A landlord's duty of care to a tenant does not extend to making premises as safe as they can possibly be; it is limited to keeping premises in reasonable repair. A failure to install a handrail on a short set of four obvious external steps does not constitute a breach of duty, particularly where no code requires a handrail and the tenant has used the steps without incident for an extended period. Even where a plaintiff claims she would have used a handrail, the dynamics of the particular fall may establish that the handrail would not have prevented the injury, defeating causation. A defence based on delegation to an independent contractor must be specifically pleaded and cannot be raised for the first time on appeal under a general denial of negligence.
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