Determination of Tenancy.—All tenancies may of course be put an end to at any time by mutual consent, though the consent should be declared in a deed if the tenancy was by deed. But without such consent a tenancy for a fixed period must continue according and subject to the special terms, if any, of the lease until the period expire when the tenancy comes to an end, and the tenant must give up possession, and may leave without any notice. Subject to any special agreement, a tenancy from year to year can be determined by one party only at the day of the year corresponding to that from which it was agreed that the tenancy should run by giving to the other a half year’s previous notice of his intention. If the tenancy runs from one of the usual quarter-days, then the necessary and sufficient notice is that which is given on or before the quarter-day next but one preceding that from which the tenancy runs. A quarter’s notice in a quarterly tenancy, a month’s notice in a monthly tenancy, and a week’s notice in a weekly tenancy are undoubtedly sufficient, and should be given so as to expire at the end of the current quarter, month, or week respectively of the tenancy. In the metropolis there seems to be a general custom as to weekly tenancies which renders a week’s notice necessary, and County Court judges usually so hold.
Fixtures.—A tenant may during his occupation remove fixtures which he has put up at his own expense for ornament or domestic convenience, in such a way that they have not become a permanent part of the house. But if, on giving up possession of the house, he leaves any behind by mistake, he cannot re-enter to recover them; and if the incoming tenant once obtains possession, including the fixtures, he is entitled to detain and use them, unless he has expressly agreed to pay for them or deliver them up. Tenants may not pull down buildings or permanent structures which they have erected on their own responsibility, and must make good any damage done to the house by the removal of such fixtures as they are entitled to remove.
Dilapidations.—Under the ordinary covenants by the tenant to keep and deliver up the premises in repair, it seems that the view generally taken by surveyors of his liability—which will extend to permanent erections made by the tenant himself—is as follows:—If the parts can be repaired they may be so treated; but if the decay or injury has gone so far as to render repairs insufficient to restore the usefulness of the part, it must be made good. Thus, among the items the tenant is called upon to make good is that of roofing; such as to replace all loose and broken tiles, to strip and retile where the laths are broken, or where the rafters, feet or purlins are decayed; to restore all defective filleting and pointing. Defective brickwork in walls, chimneys, shafts, parapets, and gables; portions out of the perpendicular, or bulged, or cracked, have to be made good, besides repointing where necessary, and refixing broken chimney pots. Slated roofs also come under the same general clauses. Repairs to woodwork include such items as the following: Making good all loose or decayed timbers, whether injured by wet or dry-rot; to fix timbers where not straight, through neglect or decay; to secure and make good all loose, broken, or decayed weather boarding, frames, skylights, wooden gutters, dormer boarding, and other external work; also to make good broken or decayed wooden fences, door frames, &c.; to secure and make good all loose, broken, or rotten floors; to fix up and relay where not level, if by reason of neglect, and to rehang where required all doors and shutters; replace broken lines, repair sashes, nosings to stairs where defective, and treads. Questions are continually arising regarding the liability of tenants to repair joiners’ work, but it appears clear that the burden of repairs falls upon the tenant. With respect to masons’ work, all defective stonework of whatever description falls upon him. Thus, broken cornices, lintels, and sills have to be made good by filling-in pieces; also broken steps and landings, both inside and out. In case of broken nosings, or of treads worn down as to become dangerous, the piecing is to extend to cutting out the upper surface and filling in the depth of nosing with a slab of sufficient thickness to form a new nosing. Broken chimney pieces, slabs, and inner hearths are to be made good or relaid; and loose and sunken pavings to be taken up and relaid. All panes of glass having two cracks in them are to be reinstated, besides making good all putty work. With respect to painting, it is usual for the tenant to repaint all wood and ironwork for their preservation, and where defaced, also on stone, stucco, or other external work. Inside painting is exempted, except in cases of misuse. To other trades the same rules apply; all broken fittings, fixtures, and parts of buildings to be repaired or made good by the tenant. The term “to make good” implies a renewal of the part, and ought not to be confused with the general words “to repair.”
Water.—Subject to anything in their special Act, a waterworks company having pipes in the street where the house is situate may be required by the occupier, with the consent in writing of the owner, and upon payment or tender of the water rate in advance, to make the needful communications, and are liable to forfeit 5l. for non-compliance within seven days. Due care must be exercised by the company to render the supply regular, but they are not responsible for discontinuance caused by frost, drought, or other unavoidable circumstance. The water must always be pure and wholesome, and in this connection it may be mentioned that water is nearly always purer as delivered by the company than as drawn from the householder’s cistern, owing to gross neglect to keep the latter clean. The company’s inspector may enter any day between 9 A.M. and 4 P.M. to examine the fittings, and the householder is liable to heavy fines for allowing water to be wasted or misused, or contaminated, besides having his supply cut off till the evil is remedied, and incurring all the cost incidental thereto. An incoming tenant should ascertain by application at the offices of the company whether the previous tenant is in arrears with his water rates, as it is said that in some districts the newcomer may be compelled to pay the deficit before getting a supply. This is certainly not the law in the metropolis, at all events, where the incoming tenant is expressly declared to be free from this liability, unless he has undertaken with his predecessor to pay the arrears. The company are bound under heavy penalties to keep a copy of their special act for inspection on payment of a fee of 1s. per hour. This will show the charges they are authorised to make, and the amount of the rate which is payable in advance and usually based on the annual value, i.e. the net annual value, or about the same as the net rateable value appearing in the parochial rate-book.
Gas.—Subject to anything in the special Act, the owner or occupier of a house within twenty-five yards of a gas main, may, by notice in writing, require the company to supply gas; they are bound by penalties to comply within a reasonable time, provided the occupier will agree to take gas for two years, and is ready to give security for payment of his rates. The companies must supply gas of a certain standard as regards purity and lighting power, but are not governed as to pressure, hence the householder’s only means of preventing the waste due to constantly changing pressure is to have a “regulator,” as described in another section (p. 88). Gas is supplied at a price per 1000 cubic feet used, the consumption being measured by a meter. This meter may be supplied by the gas company and a rental charged on it, the company keeping it in repair; or it may be supplied by the householder at his own cost for purchase and maintenance; but the householder must not alter the fixing or provide his own meter without 24 hours’ notice to the company. The company, in either case, have right of entry to examine the fittings at reasonable times. The householder is liable to heavy penalties in respect of waste or misuse of the gas or injury to the pipes, &c. Gas rates are usually delivered quarterly and are payable at once, failing which the company may proceed to recover and cut off supply, and may demand security for the future before renewing supply, cost of which will fall upon the householder. No incoming tenant is liable for rates unpaid by his predecessor unless he has undertaken to pay them. The company are bound under heavy penalties to keep a copy of their special Act for inspection on payment of a fee of 1s. per hour.
Servants
Servants.—A general or indefinite hiring of domestic or menial servants is said to be in law a hiring for a year, and the contract therefore, unless the service is to begin on the same day or the day following, ought, strictly to be in writing and signed; but it may be made out by the letters of the parties, and does not require any stamp. Wages, though reckoned by the year, are usually payable in monthly instalments, but sometimes quarterly or yearly.
The service may, however, be freely terminated at any time by either party giving to the other a month’s notice, or in lieu thereof paying a month’s wages; and it has been ruled that payment of board wages is not necessary in the latter case. But the law is that where a servant is guilty of conduct which is inconsistent with the true and faithful discharge of his or her service, the master has a right of instant dismissal. Immorality, drunkenness, gross impertinence, disobedience, dishonesty of course, or incompetence to do the work contracted to be done, are all facts which may justify the master. Disobedience means a refusal to comply with a reasonable order within the scope of the servant’s duties—a housemaid cannot be required to groom a horse; nor is a servant bound to perform any service in which he reasonably apprehends injury to himself, and which he has not clearly agreed to perform. If your servant, when summarily dismissed, refuses to leave the house, you may turn him or her out of doors, if you feel yourself strong enough to do so; but, to avoid the risk of an unseemly scuffle, your best plan is to send for the police.
Wages.—As to the wages of a servant who has been summarily dismissed upon legally sufficient ground, considerable misapprehension seems to prevail. Strictly speaking she is not only not entitled to a month’s wages in lieu of a month’s warning, but not to anything at all for the intervening period from the last regular pay day. Thus, if your cook, whose wages fell due and were paid on the 5th of March, so misconducts herself on the 1st of April as to justify her immediate discharge, she has no claim upon you for any wages between the 5th of March and the 1st of April. But if there is doubt as to your being able to prove the misconduct in court, it may often be better to pay a month’s wages and the accruing wages than to expose yourself to the risk of an action and the certainty of costs. Of course if the wages due on the 5th of March had not been paid on the 1st of April, your cook, badly as she might have since behaved, would not lose her right to them. If, on the other hand, you have discharged your servant for your own pleasure, so to speak, although you are not bound to keep her in your house a moment longer than suits you, she is entitled to the accruing wages up to the time when she was discharged, and to a calendar month’s wages in addition, but not to board wages for that period, as has been seen. In the absence of any agreement, the master is not liable to pay a discharged servant the expenses of her journey home.
Breakages.—Servants have no right to break or damage their master’s property, and if it is proved that damage has been caused by any particular servant’s failure to use such care as it was reasonable, under all the circumstances, to require from him, being such as he is, he is liable in law to pay for the same. Formerly, no deductions from the servant’s wages could be made on this account, but recent reforms in legal procedure in effect permit them; but the master when sued for the balance of the full wages must counterclaim in respect of the damage, and had better consult a solicitor. The best plan is to have an express agreement on the subject that deductions may be made.