OCCUPIERS NEGLIGENCE1
Issue
Whether any action can be brought against the Southport City Council by Bill and
Phoebe.
Rule
The occupiers have a liability towards the people who visit the land they are residing in
or occupying and they have a certain kind of duties towards the people who visit the land and a
certain duty of care towards the people who come to the land and the liability is supposed to be
on the occupier of the land if there is any kind of dangers which are taking place or arising in that
land. Therefore, negligent behavior would make the occupiers liable for any kind of harm that is
arising from the land due to the negligent behavior of the occupier. It can be seen in the case of
Woods v Multisport Holdings P/L (2002) CLR 4601. An occupier is considered to be a person
who has control over the happenings or the occurring in the premises that is occupied by him.
Therefore, the occupiers liability is based on control of the premises and not the ownership2.
There are no liabilities on the landlords of a premise or there are no implied duty on the
landlords other than providing the land or the premise to an occupier or tenant and the land has to
fit for habitation purposes. It can be seen in the case of Northern Sandblasting v Harris (1997)
188 CLR 3133. The scope and reasonableness of a landlord’s duty is considered to be
understood.
1 Woods v Multisport Holdings P/L (2002) CLR 460.
2 Goudkamp, James. "Reforming English Tort Law: Lessons from Australia." James
Goudkamp,'Reforming English Tort Law: Lessons from Australia'in Eoin Quill and Raymond J Friel (eds),
Damages and Compensation Culture: Comparative Perspectives (Hart Publishing 2016) ch 4 (2016).
3 Northern Sandblasting v Harris (1997) 188 CLR 313.

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Occupiers Negligence - Liability of Occupiers and Landlords

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