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(For Replies to this Query, see pp. 146-148.)

I should be obliged by an opinion as to what constitutes "forming and metalling" roads, under the following circumstances:-

A large estate of grass lands was offered for sale by auction as building land. The sale plans issued by the vendors showed the proposed roads with footways, and the roads on the estate at the time of sale were indicated by the turf being removed. The land was sold in small plots, subject to restrictive stipulations as to value, &c., of houses to be erected by purchasers. The vendors agreed to "form and metal" the whole of the roads on the estate within a limited time, towards the cost of which forming and metalling purchasers were to contribute a certain sum per foot frontage of the plots purchased by them, and afterwards to repair and maintain the same.

The value of the land for building purposes depends largely upon the whole of the roads being properly made, and the agreement on the part of the vendors was a strong inducement to buyers.

Fences down.

What method of road making under these circumstances would be fairly considered sufficient to satisfy the vendor's liability to "form and metal" the roads?

66

CLIII.

QUIT RENTS-RECOVERY OF ARREARS.

(For Replies to this Query, see p. 148.)

I have been appointed agent to the lords of a certain manor (comprising ancient freehold lands") to whom are payable certain quit rents, which have unfortunately been allowed to fall very much in arrear, in some cases over 20 years. There is no plan of the lands of the manor chargeable with quit rent in existence as far as I know, and no court has been held for about 30 years.

What I want to know is

1. Can I proceed against the present occupiers of the lands by distress?

2. If so, for how many years' rent?

3. After how many years' non-payment of rent does the quit rent become extinguished?

According to Owen v. De Beauvoir a lapse of 20 years extinguishes it; is there a later case than this?

CLIV.

LANDLORD AND TENANT-NOTICE TO QUIT.

(For Replies to this Query, see pp. 149, 150.)

I should be glad to have a reliable opinion on the following point, arising under an agreement from which an extract is subjoined.

Extract

"The said landlord agrees to let and the said tenant agrees to take "the private dwelling house with the offices and garden thereto be"longing, known as in the township aforesaid, as tenant thereof, from year to year from the

situate at

pounds,

"of "29th day of September, 1889, at the yearly rent of "payable quarterly upon the usual quarter days upon which rents are "made payable, the first quarterly payment of "made on the 25th day of December, 1889."

pounds to be

The landlord has given notice, dated the 28th March, 1893, for the tenant to quit at Michaelmas next; he claims that, as 183 days have to expire between the notice and Michaelmas Day, this notice is sufficient. The tenant objects that it is a custom beyond dispute that notice to quit at Michaelmas should be given not later than 25th March.

CLV.

LANDLORD AND TENANT-RENT-DILAPIDATIONS.

(For Replies to this Query, see p. 150.)

A lease is granted for 21 years, containing covenants by the tenant to do inside and outside repairs, and to leave the premises in good repair. The lease expires by effluxion of time, and the tenant pays the last quarter's rent, receiving from the landlord a receipt which makes no mention of dilapidations. The tenant has put the house, according to his contention, in proper repair, to which the landlord does not agree. Is the receipt for the last quarter's rent evidence of the performance of the covenants by the tenant, and will it now operate as a bar to the landlord's claim for breach of covenant to leave in proper repair?

CLVI.

WATER SUPPLY-CONSTANT SERVICE-NECESSITY FOR CISTERN.

(For Replies to this Query, see pp. 150, 151.)

Can a water company, in cases where there is a constant supply, compel an owner to have a cistern other than the waste preventer? and, if so, is not the primary object of a constant supply, viz., greater purity, lost, as cisterns are a great source of impurity, being so often neglected?

CLVII.

INFECTIOUS DISEASES ACT (1890)-COST OF DISINFECTING-LIABILITY.

(For Replies to this Query, see p. 151.)

Under the Infectious Diseases (Prevention) Act, 1890, sec. 5, can an urban sanitary authority, in a case of infection having taken place in a house, charge the owner, who has let such house at a weekly rent, with the cost of whitening the ceilings and stripping the walls and repapering the same; and has there been any decision of the superior courts in relation thereto ?

CLVIII.

FARM TENANT-REFUSAL TO TAKE POSSESSION-LIABILITY TO LANdlord. (For Replies to this Query, see pp. 151, 152.)

A, a tenant farmer, agreed with B, a Londoner, to take a farm as from Lady Day 1893. B's solicitor advises that A is legally bound by the contract of tenancy. A, who is a man of some substance, now refuses to take possession of the farm.

B has paid the outgoing tenant the valuation of the growing crops, tenant-right, &c., &c. Can he compel A to take up this valuation? or can he, without prejudicing his position, enter upon the land to hoe the corn crops, plant roots, &c.?

CLIX.

LANDLORD AND TENANT-REPAIRS.

(For a Reply to this Query, see p. 152.)

A house, rented at £84, is taken on lease for three years, and at its expiration the tenant remains in occupation for another two years under a verbal agreement with the lessor that the rent should be reduced to £80; but no other terms of tenancy being arranged, the presumption in the lessor's mind being that the tenant would be bound for the new tenancy by the covenants of the old lease, in so far as they were applicable thereto. The lease provides that the tenant "will "keep and maintain the inside of the said messuage," &c., "in good "condition and complete repair."

1. Is the tenant bound by this repairing covenant for the last two years of his new tenancy?

2. If so, does the covenant include decorative painting, papering, and whitewashing?

3. If so, to what extent?

CLX.

BURNT CLAY FOR FLOORS OF COW BARTONS.

(For Replies to this Query, see pp. 152, 153.)

In a district where the soil is a very stiff clay, and stone and gravel are not obtainable without heavy haulage, the cow bartons have become thoroughly rotten, and in wet weather the cows sink-knee deep in mud. It occurs to me that the clay might be burnt into ballast, in order to make a better bottom. I should be glad to know whether anyone has tried such an experiment, and, if so, would he kindly explain the modus operandi?

CLXI.

PUBLIC HEALTH ACT (LONDON), 1891-" OWNER."

(For a Reply to this Query, see p. 153.)

By the wording of this Act liability for defective drainage is made to fall on the owner-that is, the person who receives the rack rent; and this view is upheld in the actions Thompson v. Lapworth, Law Reports 3 C. P. 149, and Rawlins v. Briggs, 3 C. P. D. 368, following the case of Tidswell v. Whitworth, 2 C. P. 326, where, notwithstanding special covenants whereby the "owner" appeared to be indemnified by the lessee, the responsibility was ultimately fixed on the owner.

Has any recent case been tried in the courts which has put a different construction on the term "owner" than that described by the Act?

CLXII.

LIME AND BRICK BURNING BY MEANS OF GAS.

(For a Reply to this Query, see p. 153.)

Is there any successful system extant for lime or brick burning by means of gas? and, if so, where can information respecting it be obtained?

CLXIII.

LIGHT AND AIR-ENLARGEMENT OF ANCIENT LIGHTS.

(For Replies to this Query, see p. 154.)

A warehouse, which is built up to the edge of its owner's land, has enjoyed light through windows which are admittedly ancient lights. The owner proposes to lengthen certain of these windows, in order to obtain more light.

Can the neighbouring owner prevent the enlargement of these windows by injunction or other legal process? or, would his only remedy, in order to maintain his rights, be to prevent the access of such additional light by the erection of screens or buildings on his own land in front of the new parts of the windows?

REPLIES.*

Reply to Query CXLII. (Vol. VI., p. 29 ante).
NOTICE TO QUIT.

I know of no process by which the landlord can compel the tenant to tell him whether he is going to give up possession or not.

Woodfall (landlord and tenant, edition 1889, p. 766) states that it would appear that where the landlord has given a notice to quit or pay a specified rent he may recover that amount of rent if the tenant hold over, it being a question for a jury whether the tenant has acquiesced. It would therefore seem desirable to give the notice mentioned in the last paragraph of the question, as a jury might imply from it acquiescence on the tenant's part, but, as the landlord cannot compel the tenant to answer the letter, probably the better plan would be either to get rid of such a tenant by ejectment, or to take steps to recover double value from him if he holds over.

LEWIS WINCKWORTH, Associate.

Reply to Query CXLIV. (Vol. VI., p. 30).

HIGHWAY SURVEYORS-RIGHT TO LET WASTE AS GARDENS.

It is a well-known rule of law that if a piece of ground can be proved to be part of the highway, no person-be he the surveyor of

• Replies must, in all cases, be authenticated by the full name of the Member supplying the information asked for.

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