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Where they are not — for instance, badly infested — the tenant may treat himself as constructively evicted

A worked RES examination question on landlord tenant covenants, from our Paper 1 bank — with the rule it turns on, and why each of the four options is right or wrong.

Paper 1Lesson 7Landlord tenant covenantsFree — no sign-up

The question

Madam Yeo rents out a fully furnished flat. On the day the tenant moves in, the flat is found to be badly infested with bedbugs, so that it cannot reasonably be lived in. The tenant, who had paid a deposit and the first month's rent and arranged to move his family in that weekend, complains that the flat was plainly not fit to be occupied when he took it, and asks what his position is and whether he must simply put up with it.

Which statement is correct?

  1. A. The tenant's only remedy is to clear the infestation himself and bear the cost, as the occupier of the flat.
  2. B. The tenant must simply live with the infestation, a landlord giving no assurance about the state of a let flat.
  3. C. The landlord breached the duty to deliver a fit furnished flat, so the tenant may claim constructive eviction.
  4. D. There is no breach, the duty of fitness applying only to unfurnished premises such as bare warehouses.

The answer, and why

Answer: C

The rule. A landlord letting furnished premises must deliver them fit for human habitation at the start of the tenancy. Where they are not — for instance, badly infested — the tenant may treat himself as constructively evicted. The duty attaches to furnished lettings, not to bare premises such as warehouses.

Why C is correct. The flat was furnished and, being badly infested on day one, was not fit to be lived in. The landlord breached the duty of fitness, and the tenant may claim constructive eviction.

The other options.

  • B says the landlord gives no assurance. For furnished premises there is a duty of fitness at delivery.
  • A puts the cost on the tenant. The breach is the landlord's.
  • D confines the duty to unfurnished premises. It is the other way round — it applies to furnished ones.

Exam note. Furnished lettings must be fit to live in at handover. An infested furnished flat is a breach, and constructive eviction is open to the tenant.

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