Plymouth Community Homes Limited (Appellant) v Crisplane Limited (Respondent)

Case summary

Case ID

UKSC/2025/0075

Parties

Appellant(s)

Plymouth Community Homes

Respondent(s)

Crisplane Limited

Issue

Is the Respondent, as lessee, liable to contribute by way of service charge to the costs incurred by the Appellant, as lessor, in repairing the roofs of two properties in Plymouth?

Facts

The Appellant is a registered social landlord and the freehold owner of two properties (among others) in Plymouth, having received a stock transfer from Plymouth City Council. The Respondent is the long leaseholder of the properties. The standard form leases were granted to individuals in 1990 pursuant to the Right to Buy legislation and the Respondent is a successor in title. In 2018, the Appellant inspected the roofs of the properties, found them in need of repair and repaired them. The Appellant sought a 50% contribution from the Respondent. Schedule 4 of the lease contained an express repair obligation on the Appellant, including maintenance of the exterior of the property “excluding the roof”. The service charge obligation on the Respondent was expressed in Schedule 3 of the lease as a 50% payment of matters covered by the Schedule 4 repair obligation. It is common ground that the Appellant was nevertheless required to repair the roof because of the operation of the statutory regime (which the parties had not modified by way of a county court order). The Respondent argues that its own service charge obligation does not extend to the roof, because it is expressed by reference to the repair obligation in Schedule 4 of the lease. The Appellant argues that the exclusion of the roof from the repair obligation was an inchoate attempt to vary the statutory repair obligation and is as such inoperative. The First-tier Tribunal held that the Respondent was liable to pay 50% of the cost of repairing the roof. The Upper Tribunal allowed the Respondent’s appeal. The Court of Appeal dismissed the Appellant’s appeal. The Appellant now appeals to the Supreme Court.

Date of issue

28 April 2025

Case origin

PTA

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