Tenant Liability for Repairs Despite External Damage and Claim of Force Majeure

An appeal was brought against a lower court decision that held a tenant liable for repairs under a lease agreement, despite the tenant claiming the deterioration resulted from inherent vice or force majeure, specifically citing the collapse of an adjoining wall that caused damage to the leased premises. The high court dismissed the appeal, reasoning that the tenant's obligation to maintain the premises, as stipulated in the lease, was not discharged merely by demonstrating external damage; the tenant failed to prove that the damage constituted an unavoidable and unforeseeable event (force majeure) or an inherent vice of the building that excused the contractual maintenance duty, thus upholding the lower court's finding of tenant liability for the necessary repairs.