Failure to make good damage caused by removal of tenant’s fixtures is waste.

Where a tenant removes tenant’s fixtures at the end of the term a failure to make good damage caused to the fabric of the building is waste. A director of a corporate tenant who ordered the removal is personally liable in the tort of waste.

In Mancetter Developments Ltd v Garmanson ([1986] QB 212, CA (Eng)) a landlord leased industrial premises to a chemical manufacturing company. The tenant made holes in the walls of the building to accommodate pipes and an extractor fan. The lease was assigned to another company. When the lease came to an end, the assignee removed the pipes and fan but did not fill in the holes in the wall. It was held by a majority of the English Court of Appeal that the director of the assignee who had ordered the removal was personally liable in the tort of waste. It was doubted whether a party could be liable both for breach of covenant and in waste (but the director had given no covenant so this was not an issue here).

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