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Consultation Paper on the General Law of the Landlord and Tenant

Consultation Paper on the General Law of the Landlord and Tenant

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most <strong>of</strong> its significance with <strong>the</strong> enactment <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> comprehensiveprovisi<strong>on</strong> c<strong>on</strong>tained in secti<strong>on</strong> 17 <strong>of</strong> Deasy’s Act. 25B Deasy’s Act, Secti<strong>on</strong> 174.11 This is a somewhat c<strong>on</strong>voluted provisi<strong>on</strong> which is worthquoting in full:“Pers<strong>on</strong>al chattels, engines, <strong>and</strong> machinery, <strong>and</strong> buildingsaccessorial <strong>the</strong>reto, erected <strong>and</strong> affixed to <strong>the</strong> freehold by<strong>the</strong> tenant at his sole expense, for any purpose <strong>of</strong> trade,manufacture, or agriculture, or for ornament, or for <strong>the</strong>domestic c<strong>on</strong>venience <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> tenant in his occupati<strong>on</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong>demised premises, <strong>and</strong> so attached to <strong>the</strong> freehold that <strong>the</strong>ycan be removed without substantial damage to <strong>the</strong> freeholdor to <strong>the</strong> fixture itself, <strong>and</strong> which shall not have been soerected or affixed in pursuance <strong>of</strong> any obligati<strong>on</strong> or inviolati<strong>on</strong> <strong>of</strong> any agreement in that behalf, may be removedby <strong>the</strong> tenant, or his executors or administrators, during <strong>the</strong>tenancy, or, when <strong>the</strong> tenancy determines by some uncertainevent, <strong>and</strong> without <strong>the</strong> act or default <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> tenant, withintwo calendar m<strong>on</strong>ths after such determinati<strong>on</strong>, except so faras may be o<strong>the</strong>rwise specifically provided by <strong>the</strong> c<strong>on</strong>tract <strong>of</strong>tenancy; provided that <strong>the</strong> l<strong>and</strong>lord shall be entitled toreas<strong>on</strong>able compensati<strong>on</strong> for any damage occasi<strong>on</strong>ed to <strong>the</strong>premises by such removal.”To a large extent this provisi<strong>on</strong> recognises <strong>the</strong> principles evolved by<strong>the</strong> courts in respect <strong>of</strong> tenant’s fixtures, supplemented by <strong>the</strong>provisi<strong>on</strong>s for agricultural tenants introduced by <strong>the</strong> <strong>L<strong>and</strong>lord</strong> <strong>and</strong><strong>Tenant</strong> Act 1851. In essence it would appear to operate as a “default”provisi<strong>on</strong> where <strong>the</strong> parties have not made an express agreement as to<strong>the</strong> items in questi<strong>on</strong>. 26 The Commissi<strong>on</strong> takes <strong>the</strong> view that thisshould be <strong>the</strong> basis <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> law, as it accords with <strong>the</strong> fundamentalprinciple <strong>of</strong> founding <strong>the</strong> relati<strong>on</strong>ship <strong>of</strong> l<strong>and</strong>lord <strong>and</strong> tenant <strong>on</strong> <strong>the</strong>2526Note <strong>the</strong> reference to <strong>the</strong> purpose <strong>of</strong> “agriculture” in secti<strong>on</strong> 17: seeparagraph 4.11 below.The suggesti<strong>on</strong> that <strong>the</strong> reference to <strong>the</strong> parties’ agreement relates <strong>on</strong>ly to<strong>the</strong> two calendar m<strong>on</strong>th period for removal was rejected in Cosby v Shaw(1887) 23 LR Ir 181, 199 (per Naish LJ).78

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