Can frustration end a tenancy?

Here is a question to the blog clinic from Richard who is a tenant

Can I use ‘frustration’ to terminate my tenancy agreement early?

I signed a one year short hold agreement with no break clause. The landlord made me aware of a dog boarding kennel which created noise twice a day within sociable hours therefore I did not see a problem with this.

How wrong was I? The noise can and often does go on for 24 hours per day and I am now suffering from stress due to the frustrations incurred. What is more, I am being used to monitor this nuisance by the local council and have been assaulted by the kennel owner, for which he has been charged by the Police.

I have recently acquired from my landlord, emails pertaining to this issue, acknowledging the dispute dating back to 2004, an ongoing dispute between my landlord and the kennel owners which predates my agreement and which was not brought to my attention.

I am sorry Richard, the doctrine of frustration cannot be used for this sort of thing.  It is a rule which says that a contract will end if it becomes impossible to perform it.  However your problem does not come within this category as it is still possible for you to live at the property.

So far as I am aware the doctrine of frustration for a tenancy is only likely to apply if the property itself is  destroyed.  For example if it burns to the ground or falls over a cliff.

However it will not apply for anything short of that.

I am afraid you are in a bit of a problem situation, particularly as the landlord disclosed the problem to you before you signed the tenancy agreement, and the noise is not actually created by him but by the dogs in the kennel.  A landlord is not normally liable for a nuisance created by someone else.

However it is just possible he could be liable under the misrepresentation rules as the noise is so much greater than he led you to believe, particularly if you can show that he was aware of this and deliberately failed to make the true situation clear.  Misrep however is a tricky area of law so you should get some legal advice from a litigation solicitor first.

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If YOU have a problem, why not put it to the blog clinic?  However there are a lot of questions submitted, so if you need an answer quickly remember that members of my Landlord Law service can ask me questions in the members forum area, and will normally get an answer with 24 hours.

Dog picture from salvar