Blewett v Blewett     Landlord and Tenant – Lease – Lease vested in co-owners – Covenant to repair – Notice to
repair served on one lessee only – Notice requiring work not within covenant – Vesting of
lease in Public Trustee – Law of Property Act 1925 (c 20), s 146, Sched 1, Part IV, para 1(4).
In 1877 a lease of two cottages was granted to the defendant’s father to take effect on the
death of the plaintiff’s father. On the death of the defendant’s father intestate in 1898, the
lease vested in his wife and upon her death in 1915 it vested by her will in the five children.
The plaintiff’s father died in 1926. By a family arrangement, the defendant was allowed to
live rent free in one of the cottages on condition that he kept both cottages in repair. In 1934
the plaintiff served a notice upon the defendant’s brother, who was one of the lessees and
who managed the family affairs, requiring him to do certain repairs under a covenant in the
lease. No repairs were done and the plaintiff brought an action for possession. The county
court judge found that some of the work required to be done was not repair work within the
covenant and that other work was of a more expensive character than the covenant required,
and he held that the notice was therefore not a good notice within the Law of Property Act
1925, s 146, and he gave judgment for the defendant. The plaintiff appealed:—