View report page

229
City of London Court, before Mr. Commissioner Kerr, in the
early part of the current year, the Plaintiffs—two ladies—tenants
of a house in Bayswater, seeking to recover damages
for loss sustained by them by reason of the Defendant landlord's
misrepresentation as to the state of the drainage of the
house. An assurance had been given, by the Defendant or his
agent, that the drains were in perfect order, but soon after the
Plaintiffs entered into possession they discovered that the drains
were defective "and emitted vile and offensive smells." The
result of the insanitary condition of the house was that boarders
became ill and left, and the Plaintiff's had suffered loss. The
house was of the rental value of £90 per annum. A new drain
was put in by the landlord at a cost of £20 " because a faulty
joint was discovered, and it was felt that the Plaintiffs had a
certain claim on the landlord, inasmuch as they took the house
on the understanding that the drains were right"—as the Defendant's
counsel stated. Damages to the amount of £25 had been
claimed, and his Honour gave judgment for the Plaintiff's for
£10, with costs on the higher scale, "the case being one of
public importance." The case is indeed of public importance,
for never a year, probably, passes, that the Sanitary Officers of
almost any district do not become aware of similar cases, where
tenants have lost lodgers, and so sustained damage, owing to
sanitary defects, for the remedy of which the landlord is liable.
And this often in cases like the above, when the defects have
been speedily discovered upon entry, after distinct assurance that
all was " right."
A not inconsiderable number of cases of this or a similar
sort have come before the Courts within the last few years, and
they are of importance as precedents. Oases, 1 mean, in which
tenants of insanitary houses have proceeded against their landlords
to recover damages for injury to health resulting from drainage
defects. Decisions in several cases have been given in favour of
the tenant, and it may be hoped that in course of time bad
landlords will find out that it is dangerous, in more senses than