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Question Title: Rising Damp - no disrepair
| Question: 199 |
| We rent out a cottage which is over a hundred years old which has a mild case of rising damp in the rear walls. The tenant has asked us to see to arrange for the problem to be rectified, claiming that we are in breach of the repairing obligations in the tenancy. Being an older style property, the cottage did not ever have a damp proof course and the local damp treatment company tell us that there is no way to avoid the problem without undertaking expensive treatment works which will require extensive replastering and redecoration. Is the landlord required to put the problem right ?
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| Answer: |
| A similar case was considered by the Court of Appeal (Wainwright v Leeds City Council, 1984). It was held that there was no disrepair in such cases. The house had been built without a damp-proof course and the tenant had rented it in that condition. The tenant is in fact seeking an improvement, and something different from that which he had agreed to rent which was a house without a damp-proof course.
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References:
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Hyperlinks:
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Letting Update Journal |
Oct 2000 pages 9 & 17 |
letting-update-journal.html
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Letting Factsheet No 11 |
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factsheet-11
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For more information, discuss on the Forum
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