Landlord’s liability for tenant’s nuisance: UKSC clarifies the law in Lawrence v Fen Tigers (No. 2)

• Main Author: LOW, Kee Yang
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Institutional Knowledge at Singapore Management University 2015
• Subjects: Property Law and Real Estate
• Online Access: https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/sol_research/2603; https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/context/sol_research/article/4561/viewcontent/landlord.pdf
• Institution: Singapore Management University

Where an occupier of premises creates or causes a nuisance and affects his neighbour’s enjoyment of land, the neighbour may sue him under the tort of nuisance. Where the occupier is a tenant, the neighbour may also have recourse to the landlord. This area of law, however, has not been the subject of rigorous judicial analysis and appears to be still lacking in clarity, precision and sophistication. The position prior to the UKSC decision in Lawrence and another v Fen Tigers Ltd and others (No. 2),1 (“Lawrence”) as discerned by the authors of Markesinis & Deakin’s Tort Law2 is that, generally, it is the tenant who is liable and that, as exceptions, the landlord is liable where, inter alia:3