Jurisdiction(s):
United Kingdom

County Court (England and Wales) finds estate leisure club a service provider; breach of anticipatory reasonable adjustments duty; £9,000 injury to feelings (Plummer v Royal Herbert Freehold Ltd)

Published on: 18 June 2018

Published by a LexisNexis Property expert

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Article summary

James Plummer v Royal Herbert Freehold Limited [2018] Lexis Citation 48

What are the practical implications of this case?

Businesses that previously regarded themselves as landlords may, in reality, be treated as service providers and therefore have an anticipatory duty to make reasonable adjustments. As a result, the needs of disabled people must be accommodated, and importantly this applies even where there are currently no disabled users of the service. A further consequence is that, as a service provider, the company must consider altering physical features—a duty not imposed on landlords under the Equality Act 2010 (EA 2010). Another practical point concerns the potential scale of injury to feelings awards—in this matter, £9,000 was awarded, the highest known award in a civil disability discrimination claim.

PSLProperty comment: The County Court is not a court of record, therefore the judgment carries no precedential weight as such; nevertheless, it is notable as the first decision of its type and will alarm management companies that viewed themselves as controllers of let premises and thus outside the obligation to make reasonable adjustments to physical features...

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