What Does Good Tenantable Repair Mean in the Context of a Leasehold Property?

Does it matter what sort of standard the other properties in the locality are?

There’s been an appeal recently to the Upper Tribunal (Mountview Estates plc v W8 Property Ltd [2026] UKUT 196 (LC) (26 May 2026)) about the standard of repair of a residential flat and its impact on the amount a leaseholder needs to pay for a lease extension. There aren’t often cases that go all the way to the Upper Tribunal discussing the specifics of a repair obligation so this recent case is useful not just for residential leasehold enfranchisement cases but commercial property leases as well.

Common standard of repair imposed in leases are:

• Put and keep in good and substantial repair – the highest standard imposed on a tenant
• A standard of repair limited by reference to what the state of repair was at the time the lease was granted (by annexing a schedule of condition to the lease)
• Good and tenantable repair

This recent case helps in understanding what is required by “good and tenantable repair”.

The Upper Tribunal decided that the locality was only important to help assess the standard of repair that was required, it was not relevant in deciding whether there had been a breach in the first place that required repair.

This case involved a flat that was uninhabitable (at least to prospective occupiers of the flat). The flat was in a very expensive block of flats in Kensington. The surveyor acting for the landlord assessed that it needed a complete re-wiring, new kitchen, new bathroom, new heating and re-decoration throughout. But the original lease from 1960 only required re-decoration at the end of the lease (not throughout) and only required the flat to be in “good tenantable repair”.

The Tribunal decided that this meant that the flat needed to be kept in the standard of repair (more or less) assumed as at 1960; a requirement to repair is not a requirement to modernise, the fact that something is old fashioned, or unsuitable to modern eyes, does not mean it is not in repair. There was no evidence that the water or electricity did not work or that the heating system was in disrepair. The fact that there was no failure of repair meant that you didn’t get on to thinking about what sort of standard of repair would be imposed in the context of a flat in Kensington.

If you want advice on what the standard of repair means in your lease, please contact the Commercial Property team or the Commercial Litigation team on 0800 088 6004.