Knowledge…Shared…Multiplies
Vol. 1, No. 5
Around the period of carnival 2019, there was an incident at the Maurice Bishop International Airport in Grenada. A female passenger in the departure lounge destined for the UK stripped herself born naked. She was arrested and charged with indecent exposure. There were lots of debate regarding the incident. The main speculation was that some form of mental illness was involved.
However, a few days later the police put out a statement on the incident. It emerged that the lady was protesting the detention and arrest of her husband at the airport as he was about leave the country.
The husband owned property in the southern part of Grenada. He had tenants he wanted to get out. However, the tenants refused to cooperate. He took the law into his hands and removed the roof of the house. The tenants made a complaint to the police. They also alleged that their personal property was damaged or destroyed due to the removal of the roof. The court ordered the husband to pay $25,000.00. He refused to pay. The court made a further order to arrest him if he sought to leave the country without paying.
Nature scope and effect of Rent Restriction Act
This incident has brought into sharp focus the provisions of the Rent Restriction Act, Chapter 286 of the Laws of Grenada. The Rent Restriction Act proclaims itself to be,“An Act to restrict increases in rent of leased property, and the right to recovery of possession thereof.”
The Rent Restriction Act was patterned upon rent restriction legislation in England first enacted during the First World War.The aspect of the Act limiting rent has not operated because the rent boards required by the Act have never been established. However, the aspect imposing restrictions on the recovery of possession has worked.
The Act has wide application. It generally applies to all properties rented for residential or business purposes.The effect of the Act is that if you rent your property for someone and the contractual tenancy comes to an end but the tenant decides to stay on in your property, they become a statutory tenant.
The contractual tenancy can come to an end because time has expired. For example, if you sign a contract with a tenant for a three year term, the contractual tenancy terminates at the end of the three years.
A contractual tenancy can also come to an end by serving notice to quit on the tenant. If you rent your property to a tenant on a month to month basis, then to bring the tenancy to an end you must serve a valid notice to quit on the tenant. If it is a month to month tenancy you must give the tenant at least one month notice. At the end of the notice period, the contractual tenancy comes to an end.
As stated above, when the contractual tenancy comes to an end, if the tenant decides to stay on in your property they becomes a statutory tenant. The rent payable under the statutory tenancy would be the same as the rent payable under the contractual tenancy.
Court order required
To bring an end to that statutory tenancy and get the tenant out your property,you have to go to the High Court to obtain an order for repossession. Obtaining such an order is by no means straightforward.
The easiest ground on which to recover possession is non-payment of rent. If the tenant wants to remain in your property they must pay rent. If they fail to pay rent, the Court is likely to make an order for repossession.
The next easiest ground is where the tenant is in breach of a covenant in the tenancy agreement. For example, if there is a covenant in the tenancy agreement that the property is not be used for commercial purposes and the tenant sets up a rum shop on the property, you’re likely to get a repossession order.
The another relatively easy ground is where you have given the tenant a notice to quit and on the strength of that notice you have contracted to sell the property and to give the purchaser vacant possession. In such a case, once the court is satisfied that it is a genuine transaction you are likely to get the repossession order.
After the above three cases, the situation can become difficult. For example, if the property involved is a dwelling, and you just want the tenant out for no particular reason, then unless you can provide alternative accommodation of a reasonable standard to the tenant you are unlikely to get a repossession order.
If you reasonably require the dwelling, for example, for you, or a minor child, or your aged parents, or someone employed full time with you, to live, then you may be able to get a repossession order. However, the Court would only make the order if it is reasonable to do so. In assessing whether it is reasonable, the Court would consider such factors as whether there is alternative accommodation available for you or the person you want the property for and also for the tenant.
The long and short is, except where the tenant is failing to pay rent or is breaking a covenant, or perhaps where you are genuinely seeking to sell the property, it could be very difficult to get an order from the Court to get a tenant out of your property.
Don’t take the law in your own hands!
Due to the difficulty of getting tenants out, or due to ignorance of the law, some owners take the law into their hands. That could be the source of great trouble.
Under section 24 of the Rent Restriction Act it is an offence to do anything calculated to interfere with the peace or comfort of a residential tenant or members of their family. For example, cutting off the electricity or the water or removing the roof or flooding the downstairs premises with the intention of forcing out a tenant would fall afoul of section 24 of the Act. They are all criminal offences which make you liable to a fine of $2,000.00 or one year in prison or to be both fined and confined. Section 24 offences are triable in the magistrate court so they can be dealt with relatively swiftly.
Additionally, the tenants may be able to take civil action against you if they suffer loss or incur expenses as a result of any unlawful action. Thus for example, if you remove the roof of a house and as a result rain destroys the clothes and appliances of the tenant, they can take civil action against you to obtain compensation.
If you are renting your property for a business and you remove the roof to force out the tenant; section 24 would not apply because it is not a residential tenancy. But you may incur significant civil liability for compensation for loss of business and for damaged business stock.
Lesson for property owners
The lesson is that when you are thinking about renting out your property, beware of the Rent Restriction Act. No one can force you to rent out your property. But if you rent it out and thereby hand over possession to a tenant, it may not be that easy to repossess it. If you think you may need your property in the near future then don’t rent it to a person who may want to remain in it for the long term.
This article is for general information purposes only. Its contents do not constitute legal advice. Before you act on any matter in this article, seek advice from an attorney-at-law.
Joseph Ewart Layne is the CEO of JEL Professional Solutions. He is a graduate of Hugh Wooding Law School, holding the LEC with Merit; he holds a LLB (Honours) and a LLM (with Merit) (Corporate & Commercial Law) from London University and a LLM (Legislative Drafting) from UWI, St. Augustine. He also holds a BSc. (First Class Honours) in Applied Accounting from Oxford Brookes University and is an ACCA Affiliate.
JEL Diaspora Management which is owned by JEL Professional Solutions offers an attorney-client management service including recommending and engaging attorneys on behalf of clients and managing the attorney-client relationship. Other services offered by JEL Diaspora Management can be viewed on the Services page.