Consultation Paper on the General Law of the Landlord and Tenant

6.13 To some extent the very limited responsibility of thelandlord for maintenance and repairs has been mitigated partly byfurther development of the common law and partly by statute. So faras the common law is concerned the main development has been inthe law of tort, whereby a landlord may incur liability to a tenant forthe condition of the demised premises under either the law ofnuisance 47 or the law of negligence. 48 The Commission sees no reasonfor interfering with these judicial developments, which the courtsshould remain free to pursue.6.14 Statutory mitigation of the very limited responsibility of alandlord for maintenance and repairs has been somewhat piecemeal.In general Deasy’s Act did not cover the landlord’s responsibility, butrather contained an implied agreement putting responsibility on thetenant. 49 This is taken up in a later chapter. 50 The exceptional case inDeasy’s Act concerns what it refers to as “cottier tenancies”. Theprovisions in question 51 are of little or no practical significance today,because they apply only where there is a written letting of a tenementcomprising a house or cottage without land (or no more than half anacre of land) at a rent not exceeding £5 (now the Euro equivalent) fora term of one month, or from month to month or any lesser period. 52Furthermore the provisions only apply where the lease in such casesimposes an obligation on the landlord to keep and maintain the houseor cottage “in tenantable condition and repair”. No obligation isimposed on the landlord if the lease is silent on the matter. Theseprovisions are clearly obsolete, but it is worth noting the specialremedy provided to cottier tenants where the landlord breached theexpress repairing obligation. Contrary to the general rule adopted by474849505152Eg where the nuisance suffered by the tenant emanates from otherpremises occupied by the landlord (see Byrne v Martina Investments LtdHigh Court 30 January 1984) or other tenants of the same landlord (seeGoldfarb v Williams & Co Ltd [1945] IR 433).See the discussion, in the context of a public authority landlord, by theSupreme Court in Siney v Dublin Corporation [1980] IR 400. See alsogenerally McMahon and Binchy The Law of Torts (3 rd ed Butterworths2000) chapter 13.Section 42.Paragraph 10.06 below.Section 81-83.Section 81.101