Tenancy Contract Law: Paula's Case Against Digby Council Examined

This report examines a tenancy contract dispute between Paula and Digby Council, focusing on the legal principles of offer, acceptance, and consideration within the context of English Contract Law and the UK Tenancy Act. The analysis explores the implied terms of the contract, particularly the council's responsibilities for maintaining the building's common areas. The report highlights the legal obligations of the Digby Council, emphasizing their liability for the upkeep of the building and its common areas, and the potential consequences of failing to meet these obligations, including the tenants' right to discharge the contract. References to relevant legal cases, such as Liverpool City Council v Irwin, are included to support the analysis of implied terms and their enforcement in tenancy agreements. The report concludes by summarizing the key legal issues and implications of the case.

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Paula versus Drigby council
Tenancy Contract
12/29/2019

Introduction
A contract needs to pass from many stages to become a contract, these stages are Offer,
Acceptance of the offer with free consent and then it became an agreement which is accepted
by the parties willing to enter in any kind of agreement to make it a contract. Tenancy
contract is a valid legal agreement, and this report will discuss various points of expresses
and implied duties of a property owner related to maintenance and repairing of common area
of a building. This report will discuss terms and conditions imposed on both parties according
to English Contract law and Tenancy act of UK. This report will discuss the following factors
related to the case study;
Offer
An offer is the very first stage of a contract that takes place before an agreement; an offer
according to the English Contract Law has no legal identity or obligation. Paula had entered a
contract of tenancy with a flat owner for many years and this is a legal contract based on an
accepted offer. Here offer is to live in a rented house made by Digby council on paying a
fixed monthly amount.
Constituents of the Acceptance
An acceptance is related to the factors where the parties accept offered proposal, in expressed
or implied terms without making any counteroffer against the real offer.
 An acceptance is needed to be made within the given time by the other parties
 An acceptance need to be clearly expressed to the parties, it can be in oral, written or
implied but need to be very clear to the parties
 An acceptance become recognised with the legal identity after getting communicated
to the party who made the offer
In the case of Paula, property owner declined to renovate and repair the common area of
rented flats hence tenants were in confusion about the implied duties of proprietor for

maintenance of the building’s common area; the council and Paula accepted this offer after
understanding about all terms and conditions (Tenancy agreement service, 2019).
Consideration
Consideration is something gained in return by both parties in accomplishment of their
promises, for example,
In case of Paula, Paula as tenant has right to live in a safe, secure and well-maintained house,
with the promise of privacy and security and this is a promise of property owner and a
consideration for the Paula (Pleace and Hunter, 2019). On the other side, the property owner
gets security money and a fixed rent amount for every month in the form of his consideration
from the tenants.
Part B- Implied terms in the contract
Implied terms of a tenancy contract are never laid down but these are legally recognised as
the duties and rights of both parties. In the case of Paula, Digby council has implied terms to
fulfil the following duties like;
Council has to carry basic maintenance and repairs in the common area used by the rented
parties regularly like wall and paint maintenance, water and electricity maintenance and other
activities related to making the building and flats to make it fit for human habitation. Hence
this is an implied duty of property owners in case of Paula to make proper changes in the
common area required for its repairing and maintenance, according to the tenancy act of UK
this is an implied duty wasted in the agreement from its initial stage (Baptista et al., 2016).
Part C-
Question 1-
In the given case study, Drigby council members are legally liable to upkeep the building and
its common area, denying to maintain the building in breach of contract, as it was not
expressed anywhere in the contract that tenants have to maintain common area used by the all

tenants regularly. Owners themself are responsible to maintain the building and other
facilities for the tenants.
Question 2
In a contract, implied term in law is added to settle down the fault or missing points of a
contract, in case of Paula, court can enforce an implied term applicable to the contract of
tenancy contract with tenants. In the case of Liverpool City Council versus Irwin, court
applied implied terms of contract on proprietor (Liverpool City Council v Irwin, [1976]).
Question 3
Aggrieved with the declined decision of housing council, to maintain the common area of
building here tenants have the right to discharge their contracts if the council remain constant
on his decision.

References
Baptista, R., Hinterschweiger, M., Low, K. and Uluc, A (2016) Macroprudential Policy in an
Agent-Based Model of the UK Housing Market. SSRN Electronic Journal. [online] Available
from: https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2850414# [Accessed 29/12/2019]
Liverpool City Council v Irwin [1976] HL/PO/JU/4/3/1289 AC239 (United Kingdom House
of Lords Decisions), p.HOUSE OF LORDS.
Pleace, N. and Hunter, C (2019) Evictions in the UK: causes, consequences and
management.Elgaronline.com.Available at:
https://www.elgaronline.com/view/edcoll/9781788116985/9781788116985.00018.xml
[Accessed 29/12/2019]
Tenancyagreementservice.co.uk. (2019) Advice on Using a Verbal Tenancy Agreement.
[online] Available at: https://www.tenancyagreementservice.co.uk/verbal-tenancy-
agreements [Accessed 29/12/2019]