Occupiers' Liability Act, 1957: Duties and Responsibilities towards Visitors and Tenants, Study notes of Law

Download Occupiers' Liability Act, 1957: Duties and Responsibilities towards Visitors and Tenants and more Study notes Law in PDF only on Docsity! 5&6I ccuiers' Liability Act, 1957 5 & 6 Eriz. 2 CH. 31 ARRANGEMENT OF SECTIONS Liability in tort 3' Effect of contract on occupier's liability to third party. 4.. Lwidlord's liability in virtue of obligation to repair. . Extent of occupier's ordinary duty. Preliminary. tion Liability in contract 5. Implied term in contract. General 6. Application to Crown. 7. Powers of Parliament of Northern Ireland. 8. Short title, etc. i 0*1 5 Sr 6 ELIZ. 2 Occupiers' Liability Act, 1957 CH. 31 CHAPTER 31 An Act to amend the law of England and Wales as to the liability of occupiers and others for injury or damage resulting to persons or goods lawfully on any land or other property from dangers due to the state of the property or to things done or omitted to be done there, to make provision as. to the operation in relation to the Crown of laws made by the Parliament of Northern Ireland for similar purposes or otherwise amending the law of tort, and for purposes connected therewith. [6th June, 1957] BE it enacted by the Queen's most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:- Liability in tort 1.-(1) The rules enacted by the, two next following sections preliminary. shall -have :effect, in place of the rules of the common law, to regulate the duty which an occupier of premises owes to his visitors in respect of dangers due to the state of the premises or to things done or omitted to be done on them. (2) The rules so enacted shall regulate the nature of the duty imposed by law in consequence of a person's occupation or control of premises and of any invitation or permission he gives (or is to be treated as giving) to another to enter or use the premises, but they shall not alter the rules of the common - law as to the persons on whom a duty is so imposed or to whom it is owed; and accordingly for the purpose of the rules so enacted the persons who are to be treated as an occupier 1 CH. 31 Occupiers' Liability Act, 1957 5 & 6 ELIz. 2 Landlord's liability in virtue of obligation to repair. (5) This section, in so far as it prevents the common duty of care from being restricted or excluded, applies to contracts entered into and tenancies created before the commencement of this Act, as well as to those entered into or created after its commencement; but, in so far as it enlarges the duty owed by an occupier beyond the common duty of care, it shall have effect only in relation to obligations which are undertaken after that commencement or which are renewed by agreement (whether express or implied) after that commencement. 4.-(1) Where premises are occupied by any person under a tenancy which puts on the landlord an obligation to that person for the maintenance or repair of the premises, the landlord shall owe to all persons who or whose goods may from time to time be lawfully on the premises the same duty, in respect of darn arising from any default by him in carrying out that obligation, as if he were an occupier of the premises and those persons or their goods were there by his invitation or permission (but without any contract). (2) Where premises are occupied under a sub-tenancy, the foregoing subsection shall apply to any landlord of the premises (whether the immediate or a superior landlord) on whom an obligation to the occupier for the maintenance or repair of the premises is put by the sub-tenancy, and for that, purpose any obligation to the occupier which the sub-tenancy puts on a mesne landlord of the premises, or is treated by virtue of this provision as putting on a mesne landlord, shall be treated as put by it also on any landlord on whom the mesne landlord's tenancy puts the like obligation towards the mesne landlord. (3) For the purposes of this section, where premises comprised in a tenancy (whether occupied under that tenancy or under a sub-tenancy) are put to a use not permitted by the tenancy, and the landlord of whom they are held under the tenancy is not debarred by his acquiescence or otherwise from objecting or from enforcing his objection, then no persons or goods whose presence on the premises is due solely to that use of the premises shall be deemed to be lawfully on the premises as regards that landlord or any superior landlord of the premises, whether or not they are lawfully there as regards an inferior landlord. (4) For the purposes of this section, a landlord shall not be deemed to have' made default in carrying out any obligation to the occupier of the premises unless his default is such as to be actionable at the suit of the occupier or, in the case of a superior landlord whose actual obligation is to an inferior landlord, his default in carrying out that obligation is actionable at the suit of the inferior landlord. (5) This section shall not put a landlord of premises under a greater duty thA the occupier to persons who or whose goods 4 Occupiers' Liability Act, 1957 CH. 31 are lawfully on the premises by reason only of the exercise of a right of way or of rights conferred by virtue of an access agreement or order under the National Parks and Access to the Countryside Act, 1949. (6) Nothing in this section shall relieve a landlord of any duty which he is under apart from this section. (7) For the purposes of this section, obligations imposed by any enactment in virtue of a tenancy shall be treated as imposed by the tenancy, and " tenancy " includes a statutory tenancy which does not in law amount to a tenancy, and includes also any contract conferring a right of occupation, and " landlord " shall be construed accordingly. "This section applies to tenancies created before the enacment of this Act, as well as to those created after its cement. Liability in contract 5.---(1) Where persons enter or use, or bring or send goods to, Implied term any premises in exercise of a right conferred by contract with a in contracts. person occupying or having control of the premises, the duty he owes them in respect of dangers due to the state of the premises or to things done or omitted to be done on them, in so far as the duty depends on a term to be implied in the contract by reason of its conferring that right, shall be the common duty of care. (2) The foregoing subsection shall apply to fixed and moveable structures as it applies to premises. (3) This section does not affect the obligations imposed on a person by or by virtue of any contract for the hire of, or for the carriage for reward of persons or goods in, any vehicle, vessel, aircraft or other means of transport, or by or by virtue of any contract of bailment. (4) This section does not apply to contracts entered into before the commencement of this Act. General 6. This Act shall bind the Crown, but as regards the Crown's Application liability in tort shall not bind the Crown further than the Crown to Crown. is made liable in tort by the Crown Proceedings Act, 1947, and 10 & 11 Geo. that Act and in particular section two of it shall apply in relation 6. c. 44. to duties under sections two to four of this Act as statutory duties. 7. The limitation imposed by paragraph (1) of section four '-6i'weis of the Government of-Ireland Act, 1920, precluding the Part';an7ettt rliament of of Northern Ireland from making laws in respect of the Crown Northern g Ireland. or property of the Crown (including foreshct ,vested in the 10 & 11 C? eo. 5 5. c. 67. CH. 31 Occupiers' Liability Act, 1957 Crown) shall not extend to prevent that Parliament from amend- ing the law of tort, or enacting provisions similar to section five of this Act, so as to bind the Crown in common with private persons; but as regards the Crown's liability in tort, no such amendments shall bind the Crown further than then"Grown is made liable in tort under the law of Northern Ireland by ' 3 d.ers in Council under section fifty-three of the Crown Proceedings Act, 1947. Short title, etc. 8.-(1) This Act may be cited as the Occupiers' Liability Act, 1957. (2) This Act shall not extend to Scotland, nor to Northern Ireland except in so far as it extends the powers of the Parliament of Northern Ireland. (3) This Act shall come into -force on the first day of Jahw nineteen hundred and fifty-eight. Produced in the U.K. for W.J. SHARP Controller and Chief Executive of Her Majesty's Stationery Office and Queen's Printer of Acts of Parliament LONDON: PUBLISHED BY HER MAJESTY'S STATIONERY OFFICE £1.40 net 00.