65.—(1) Where a lease (whether made before or after the commencement of this Act) of a tenement contains a covenant (whether express or implied and whether general or specific) on the part of the lessee to put or to keep the tenement in repair during the currency of the lease or to leave or put the tenement in repair at the expiration of the lease and there has been a breach of the covenant, the subsequent provisions of this section shall have effect.

(2) The damages recoverable in any court for the breach shall not in any case exceed the amount (if any) by which the value of the reversion (whether mediate or immediate) in the tenement is diminished owing to the breach.

(3) Save where the want of repair is shown to be due, wholly or substantially, to wilful damage or wilful waste committed by the lessee no damages shall be recoverable in any court for the breach if it is shown—

(a) that, having regard to the age and condition of the tenement, its repair in accordance with the covenant is physically impossible, or

(b) that, having regard to the age, condition, character and situation of the tenement, its repair in accordance with the covenant would involve expenditure which is excessive in proportion to the value of the tenement, or

(c) that, having regard to the character and situation of the tenement, the tenement could not when so repaired be profitably used or could not be profitably used unless it were re-built, re-constructed or structurally altered to a substantial extent.