The defendant let certain premises to the claimants under a lease within which the claimants were covenanted "well and substantially to repair renew cleanse and keep in good and substantial repair and condition and maintain the demised premises". Upon expiry of the lease the tenants claimed repayment of an amount of rent that they had overpaid, and the defendant counterclaimed alleging certain breaches of the said covenant. The defendant did not carry out any remedial works but instead sold the premises for the sum of £2,655,000.
There were two key issues: firstly the extent of the claimants covenant of repair, i.e. whether they were under an obligation to deliver up the premises in the same condition in which they had been demised; and secondly whether any losses had in fact been suffered by the defendant.