18 Third party respect and reliance

The only aspect of contractual security which is mentioned in the Principes directeurs but which does not appear explicitly in the DCFR is the fourth one — that third parties must respect the situation created by the contract and may rely on that situation. It was not thought necessary to provide for this as it is not precluded by any rule in the DCFR and, if understood in a reasonable way, seems to follow sufficiently from other rules and essential assumptions. One case of practical importance is where a person not being a party to a contract or an intended beneficiary of it nonetheless relies on the proper performance of a contractual obligation (e. g. a tenant's visitor claims damages from the landlord as the tenant could do under the contract, because the visitor falls down the stairs as a result of a broken handrail the landlord was obliged to repair under the contract). In the DCFR such cases fall under the rules on non-contractual liability of Book VI.