Repairs

That work which is done to property to keep it in good order. To restore to a sound state after decay, injury, dilapidation, or partial injury; State v. R. Co., 85 Mo. 263, 55 Am. Rep. 361; to be synonymous with “make and keep up”; 23 Ind. 281; and sometimes to mean replace; Beach v. Crain, 2 N. Y. 93, 49 Am. Dec. 369.

Tenantable repairs

Decorative repair is not included. Papering always, and painting, unless intended for the protection of the property, are decorative repairs. The obligation does not extend to repairing or restoring what is worn out by age, but voluntary waste is a breach of the obligation; 59 L. J. Q. B. 129. What a party is bound to do, when the law imposes upon him the duty to make necessary repairs, does not appear to be very accurately defined. Natural and unavoidable decay in the buildings must always be allowed for, when there is no express covenant to the contrary; and it seems the lessee will satisfy the obligation the law imposes on him by delivering the premises at the expiration of his tenancy in a habitable state. Questions in relation to repairs most frequently arise between landlord and tenant In determining whether there has been the premises at the date of the demise; and if the premises through their own inherent defects fall in the course of the tenancy into a particular condition, the result of their being in that condition are not breaches of a covenant to repair, however wide that covenant may be; [1893] 2 Q. B. 212. When there is no express agreement between the parties, the tenant is always required to do the necessary repairs; Woodf. Landl. & T. 244; Mumford v. Brown, 6 Cow. (N. Y.) 475, 16 Am. Dec. 440. He is, therefore, bound to put in windows or doors that have been broken by him, so as to prevent any decay of the premises; but he is not required to put a new roof on an old worn-out house; 2 Esp. 590. The landlord is under no implied obligation to make ordinary repairs; Medary v. Gathers, 161 Pa. 87, 28 Atl. 1012. An express covenant on the part of the lessee to keep a house in repair, and leave it in as good a plight as it was when the lease was made, does not bind him to repair the ordinary and natural decay; Woodf. Landl. & T. 256.

See Kramer v. Cook, 7 Gray (Mass.) 550.

And it has been held that such a covenant does not bind him to rebuild a house which had been destroyed by a public enemy; Pollard v. Shaaffer, 1 Dali. (Pa.) 210, 1 L. Ed. 104, 1 Am. Dec. 239; but where in a lease there is an express and unconditional agreement to repair and keep in repair, the tenant is bound to do so, though the premises be destroyed by fire or accident; Hoy v. Holt, 91 Pa. 88, 36 Am. Rep. 659; Dermott v. Jones, 2 Wall. (U. S.) 1, 17 L. Ed. 762; Mc- Intosh v. Down, 49 Barb. (N. Y.) 554. Repair means to restore to its former condition, not to change either the form or material of a building; Ardesco Oil Co. v. Richardson, 63 Pa. 162. When a landlord covenants to repair, he is bound only to restore to a sound state either what has become decayed or dilapidated, or better, what has been partially destroyed; his covenant does not extend to improvements, nor to new buildings erected by the tenant; Cornell v. Vanartsdalen, 4 Pa. 364.

See 1 Dy. 33 a.

In order to entitle a tenant to recover from his landlord for repairs made by the tenant upon the premises, he must show a contract with the landlord, express or implied, to pay for them; Powell v. Beckley, 38 Neb. 157, 56 N. W. 974. As to the time when the repairs are to be made, it would seem reasonable that when the lessor is bound to make them he should have the right to enter and make them, when a delay until after the expiration of the lease would be injurious to the estate; but when no such damage exists, the landlord should have no right to enter without the consent of the tenant.

See 18 Toullier, n. 297.

A general covenant by a lessor to repair is construed to mean within a reasonable time aftby accidental fire, neither the tenant nor the landlord is bound to rebuild, unless obliged by some agreement so to do; Gates v. Green, 4 Paige (N. Y.) 355, 27 Am. Dec. 68; 1 Terra 708.

See Landlord and Tenant; Rent; 4 Camp. 275; Co. Litt. 27 a; Fowler v. Bott, 6 Mass. 63; 1 Saund. 322; 2 id. 158 b.