On 19/05/2013,
you requested for the version in force on 19/05/2013
incorporating all amendments published on or before 19/05/2013.
The closest version currently available is that of 30/03/1987.
PART I
RENT AND PREMISES
3.
—(1) Subject to this Act it shall be unlawful for any landlord to increase or attempt to increase or to receive or recover a rent in respect of any tenancy of premises in excess of the rent fixed by an order of the Board, or, if no order has been made, in excess of the standard rent.
(2) Where any premises are let furnished and no order of the Board exists fixing the combined rent of the premises and furniture, the landlord shall not receive or recover from the tenant in respect of the combined rent of the premises and furniture a sum exceeding the standard rent of the premises unfurnished, with the addition of:
(a)
50% of the standard rent; or
(b)
a monthly rental to be assessed at one-sixtieth of the true value of the furniture,
whichever is less.
(3) Where as a result of any transfer to a tenant of any burden or liability previously borne by the landlord, the terms on which premises are held are on the whole less favourable to the tenant than the previous terms, the rent shall be deemed to be increased whether or not the sum periodically payable by way of rent is increased.
(4) A tenant who has paid his landlord a sum in excess of the rent which may lawfully be received under this section may recover that sum from the landlord.
4. No person shall as a condition of the grant, renewal, transfer or continuance of a tenancy require the payment of any fine, premium or other like sum or the giving of any other valuable consideration in addition to the rent and any sum or other valuable consideration paid or given in contravention of this section shall be recoverable by the person by whom it was made or given.
5.
—(1) Any person who contravenes section 3 or 4 shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding $1,000 and for a second or subsequent offence shall be liable to a fine not exceeding $2,000 or to imprisonment which may extend to 6 months or to both.
(2) No proceedings shall be taken under this section without the previous sanction in writing of the President of the Board.
6. A landlord shall on being requested in writing by his tenant supply him with a statement in writing specifying the standard rent of the premises and if without reasonable excuse he fails within 14 days to do so, or supplies a statement which is false in any material particular, he shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on conviction before a Magistrate’s Court to a fine not exceeding $100.
7.
—(1) A landlord may increase the rent of the premises let by him only in the cases and to the extent following:
(a)
where the current rent is below the standard rent, to the extent of the difference between those rents;
(b)
where the current rent is below the rent fixed by an order of the Board, to the extent of the difference between those rents;
(c)
where the premises were let on or before 1st January 1941, and there has been no increase of rent subsequent to that date, to the extent set out in the third column of the Schedule in respect of the types of premises and the standard rents thereof set out adjacent thereto in the first and second columns of that Schedule:
Provided that the Board may in any such case make an order fixing the rent, and in that event the landlord shall not increase the rent above the rent so fixed;
(d)
where the landlord has after the commencement of this Act incurred any costs, charges or expenses for any improvements to or for the benefit of the premises for the purpose of constructing roads, sewers or drains or the installation of modern sanitation or for any other purpose under and in accordance with the provisions of any written law or by agreement with the tenant, then the landlord shall be entitled to increase and receive or recover a rent in excess of the standard rent the amount of such increase to be fixed by the Board on the application of either the landlord or the tenant. Any increase of rent fixed by the Board under this paragraph shall be in addition to any other increase of rent permitted under paragraphs (a), (b) and (c);
(e)
where since 7th September 1947, the rates or the property tax payable by the landlord under the provisions of the Municipal Ordinance or the Property Tax Act [Cap. 254], in respect of the premises have been increased, to the extent of the increase:
Provided that in any case where an increase, other than an increase permitted under this subsection, has been made to the rent since 7th September 1947, a landlord shall not increase the rent of the premises under this paragraph without the approval of the Board.
[1936 Ed.]
(2) Nothing in this section shall be deemed to relieve a landlord from the necessity of determining the tenancy according to law prior to increasing the rent.