Landlord and Tenant (War Damage) Act (Northern Ireland) 1941

1 Relief from obligation to repair in cases of war damage. N.I.

(1) Where, by virtue of the provisions (whether express or implied) of a disposition or of any contract collateral thereto, an obligation (in this Part of this Act referred to as an “obligation to repair” ) is imposed on any person to do any repairs in relation to the land comprised in the disposition, those provisions shall be construed as not extending to the imposition of any liability on that person to make good any war damage occurring to the land so comprised.

(2) Where war damage occurs to land comprised in a disposition, then, in so far as compliance with an obligation to repair, as modified by the provisions of the preceding sub-section, is, having regard to the extent of the war damage—

(a) impracticable, or only practicable at a cost which is unreasonable in view of all the circumstances; or

(b) of no substantial advantage to the person who, but for the provisions of this sub-section, would be entitled to the benefit of the obligation;

the obligation shall be suspended until the war damage is made good to such an extent that compliance with the obligation is practicable at a reasonable cost and is of substantial advantage to the person entitled to the benefit thereof.

(3) Any disposition or contract collateral thereto, containing a provision whereunder an obligation to make good war damage as such is imposed on any person, shall have effect as if that provision were not contained therein.

(4) Where, under the foregoing provisions of this section, an obligation to repair is modified or suspended or an obligation to make good war damage as such is extinguished, all rights and remedies (whether by way of damages, forfeiture, re-entry, sale, foreclosure or otherwise) arising out of the non-fulfilment of the obligation, including all rights against any person who has guaranteed the fulfilment of the obligation, shall be modified or suspended or extinguished accordingly.

(5) Where a disposition is made under or in pursuance of an enactment which imposes an obligation to repair in relation to the land the subject of the disposition, the obligation shall be deemed for the purposes of this section to have been imposed by virtue of the provisions of the disposition.

(6) The provisions of this section shall have effect subject to the provisions of Part II of this Act relating to notices of retention and notices to avoid disclaimer.