Malcolm Dowden discusses the relationship between common law & the statutory cap on dilapidations
The judgment in PGF II v Royal and Sun Alliance [2010] EWHC 1459 (TCC), [2010] All ER (D) 175 (Jul) provides concise guidance on the relationship between the common law assessment of damages for disrepair, and the statutory cap applied by Landlord and Tenant Act 1927, s 18. That cap was enacted to overrule the perceived injustice of the common law rule set out in Joyner v Weeks [1891] 2 QB 31, which was taken to mean that a landlord might obtain a windfall through being able to claim damages for disrepair even where the premises were to be demolished or substantially refurbished at or soon after termination of the lease.
In PGF II the tenants argued that the House of Lords ruling in Ruxley Electronics v Forsyth [1996] AC 344, [1995] 3 All ER 268 had changed the law, so that Joyner v Weeks would now be decided differently and the “windfall” element of damages would be irrecoverable without the need for statutory intervention. In particular,
