5. Nuisance. Humphrey’s amended complaint alleges no cause of action for nuisance. However, in his opposition to the motion for summary judgment, he suggested that the stairs constituted a “nuisance” that preexisted the lease, and relied on Whalen v. Shivek, 326 Mass. 142 (1950), for the proposition that a commercial landlord is liable for the injuries of a third party in such circumstances. As the judge noted, the facts in the Whalen case differ significantly from this case because Humphrey’s accident occurred within the landlord’s property, not outside it. See id. at 153-154 (“owner of premises upon which there is a nuisance . . . cannot avoid liability to a third person who is injured thereby outside the premises by showing that prior to the injury he had let the premises to another” [emphasis added]). More fundamentally, the plaintiff in Whalen stated separate causes of action for nuisance and negligence, and the discussion, id. at 153-160, pertained only to the nuisance counts. See id. at 154-155 (motion for directed verdict on nuisance counts properly denied; submission of negligence counts to jury harmless although “the evidence, and the stipulations . . . required the finding that control had passed to the tenant”). The Whalen case is inapposite to this negligence case. There is no evidence, or even an allegation, that the landlord, by permitting the stairs to remain in their defective condition, interfered with Humphrey’s use and enjoyment of any other property in which he had an interest, see, e.g, Doe v. New Bedford Hous. Auth., 417 Mass. 273, 288 (1994), quoting Asiala v. Fitchburg, 24 Mass. App. Ct. 13, 17 (1987) (private nuisance), or that the *332stairs “interfere^] with the exercise of a public right by directly encroaching on public property or by causing a common injury.” Connerty v. Metropolitan Dist. Comm’n, 398 Mass. 140, 148 (1986) (public nuisance). Judgment affirmed.