L.R.O. 1/2012
LAWS OF GUYANA
LANDLORD AND TENANT ACT
CHAPTER 61:01
Act
26 of 1947
Amended by
4 of 1972 O. 23/1986




(inclusive) by L.R.O.
Pages Authorised
Current Authorised Pages
1 – 55 ... 1/2012
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Index
of
Subsidiary Legislation
This Chapter contains no subsidiary legislation .







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CHAPTER 61:01
LANDLORD AND TENANT ACT
ARRANGEMENT OF SECTIONS
SECTION
1. Short title.
2. Interpretation.
NATURE OF TENANCIES AND THE LAW APPLICABLE THERETO
3. Definitions of various tenancies.
4. Tenancies in Guyana, and the law applicable thereto.
CAPACITY FOR LETTING AND TAKING ON HIRE LAND AND
BUILDINGS
5. General contract law to govern capacity to enter into tenancies.
PROVISIONS RELATING TO LEASES
6. Leases for more than three years to be by deed, and other leases to be
in writing.
7. Form of lease.
8. Voluntary waste, and accidental fires.
9. Person holding over after expiration of tenancy.
10. Forfeiture of leases for breach of covenant other than for non-
payment of rent.
11. Forfeiture for non-payment of rent.
12. Waiver of a covenant in a lease.
PROVISIONS RELATING TO TENANCIES GENERALLY
13. Vesting of land and buildings in possession.
14. Things privileged from distress.
15. Fixtures, etc., of tenant.
16. Attornment.
17. Effect of extinguishment of reversion.
18. Rights and duties of assignees of reversions.
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SECTION
19. General words implied in leases.
RECOVERY OF RENT BY DISTRESS
20. Summary recovery of rent under $500 per annum.
21. Rent payable in advance.
22. Claim by landlord before magistrate for rent due, and issue of
distress warrant.
23. Breaking open place for goods removed.
24. Liability of person assisting in fraudulent removal of goods.
25. Detention of furniture being clandestinely removed.
26. Sale of goods distrained and not replevied.
27. Replevin.
28. Liability of person distraining where no rent due.
29. Preference of landlord over execution creditors for rent due to
certain amount.
30. Effect of irregularity in making distress.
31. Delivery of copy of costs and charges of distress.
32. Distress within six months after lease determined.
33. Distress for rent exceeding $500 per annum.
34. Power of sale of distress taken for rent exceeding $500 per annum.
35. Application of certain provisions to distress for rent exceeding
$500 per annum.
SPECIAL PROVISIONS RELATING TO THE LANDLORD’S RIGHT OF
DISTRESS FOR RENT
36. Power of under tenant, lodger or other person, where distress levied,
to make declaration that immediate tenant has no property in goods
distrained.
37. Penalty on superior landlord for illegal distress after
declaration.
38. Payments by under tenant or lodger to superior landlord.
39. Exclusion of certain goods.
40. Exclusion of certain under tenants.

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SECTION
41. Notice by superior landlord to under tenant to pay him rent due
by immediate tenant.
42. Definitions.
43. Distress levied on goods and chattels formerly comprised in bill of
sale or hire purchase agreement.
LANDLORD’S DUTY TO REPAIR CERTAIN TENEMENTS
44. Conditions implied in the letting of houses.
RECOVERY OF POSSESSION OF TENEMENTS
45. Neglect to pay rent a determination of tenancy in certain cases.
46. Recovery of possession after termination or determination of tenancy
where tenancy is at a rent not exceeding $1,200 a year.
47. Warrant obtained without right of possession.
48. Protection of magistrate, bailiff and constable.
49. Irregularity in proceeding, but landlord has lawful right to
possession.
MISCELLANEOUS PROVISIONS
50. Regulation of costs of distress and ejectment.
51. Remedy for taking unauthorized costs and charges.
52. Summoning of witnesses.
53. Power to order costs if complaint not well founded.
54. Proof of order and judgment.
55. Mode of serving notices.
56. Appointment of certified bailiffs.
57. Registration of agents.
58. Receipts or acknowledgments to be given on payment of rent.
59. Rent book.
60. Disturbance of tenant’s peaceable enjoyment.
61. Offences and penalties.
62. Use of forms.
63. Fees and costs.
FIRST SCHEDULE- Forms.
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SECOND SCHEDULE- Table of Fees and Costs.
__________________________
1953Ed.
c. 185 _______________________________________________________
26 of 1947 An Act to regulate the relationship between Landlord and
Tenant and to amend the existing law with respect
thereto.
[30TH SEPTEMBER, 1947]
Short title.
Interpretation.
[4 of 1972]
1. This Act may be cited as the Landlord and Tenant
Act.
2. In this Act—
“agent” means a person authorised by a landlord to let any
land or buildings, or to collect rent, or to levy distress, or
to do any other act in relation to a tenancy;
“buildings” includes houses, rooms, flats, apartments and
parts thereof;
“deed” means—
(a) an instrument so called according to
the common law; or
(b) an instrument executed in Guyana
before a notary public or public
notary, and registered in the Deeds
Registry;
“land” includes buildings, houses and other structures and
erections thereon;
CHAPTER 61:01
ACT
LANDLORD AND TENANT ACT
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Definitions of
various
tenancies.
“landlord” means any person who under any tenancy is, as
between himself and the tenant for the time being,
entitled to the rents and profits of the land or building
payable under the tenancy;
“lease” includes under-lease and assignment operating as a
lease or under-lease;
“lessee” in relation to a lease has the same meaning as
“tenant”;
“lessor” in relation to a lease has the same meaning as
“landlord”;
“rent” means the sum of money or other ascertainable
consideration payable by the tenant for the possession of
the land or building under a tenancy;
“tenant” means any person entitled in possession to the land
or building under any contract of tenancy, whether the
interest of such tenant was acquired by original contract,
assignment, operation of law or otherwise;
“tenement” means any land or buildings in possession of a
tenant under a tenancy.
NATURE OF TENANCIES AND THE LAW APPLICABLE
THERETO
3. (1) A tenancy for years is a holding of land or
buildings under a contract for the exclusive possession
thereof for some certain number of years or other
determinable period.
(2) A tenancy from year to year is a holding of
land or buildings under a contract, express or implied, for the
exclusive possession thereof for a term which may be
determined at the end of the first year or any subsequent year
of the tenancy either by the landlord or the tenant by a
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Tenancies in
Guyana, and
the law
applicable
thereto.

General
contract law to
regular notice to quit.
(3) A tenancy for less than a year is a holding of
land or buildings under a contract for the exclusive
possession thereof for an indefinite period less than a year,
the hiring in the absence of stipulation to the contrary, being
monthly or weekly according to the circumstances of each
case.
(4) A tenancy at will is a holding of land or
buildings under a contract for the exclusive possession
thereof to hold at the will of the landlord.
(5) A tenancy on sufferance is a holding of land
or buildings in exclusive possession by a person who, without
the assent or dissent of the person entitled to possession,
wrongfully continued in possession of the same after his right
to the possession thereof expired.
4. (1) It is hereby declared that the tenancies defined
in section 3 comprise, and have always since the 1st January,
1917, comprised, the relationships between landlord and
tenant in Guyana and that every such tenancy, as the case
may be, had and, subject to this Act, shall continue to have in
Guyana such and the same qualities and incidents as it has by
the common law of England.
(2) It is further declared that the common law
of England relating to the said respective tenancies has, since
the 1st January, 1917, applied in Guyana, and subject to this
Act, shall continue to apply to and to govern the said
tenancies.
CAPACITY FOR LETTING AND TAKING ON HIRE
LAND AND BUILDINGS
5. (1) Capacity to enter into an agreement for a
lease or to enter into any of the tenancies defined in this Act is
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govern
capacity to
enter into
tenancies.
Leases for more
than three
years to be by
deed, and other
leases to be in
writing.

Form of lease.
regulated by the general law concerning capacity to contract
or to dispose of and acquire property.
(2) All persons not under legal disability may
grant leases for such terms as are consistent with their right,
title or interest in the land or buildings, and all persons under
no legal incapacity may hold leases.
PROVISIONS RELATING TO LEASES
6. (1) Every lease for more than three years from the
making thereof, and every lease for a term of less than three
years with the right in the lessee at his option to prolong it to
a period exceeding three years from the date thereof, shall be
by deed signed and sealed by the parties, and every such
lease not made by such deed shall have the force and effect of
an agreement for a lease only.
(2) Every lease for a term of three years or less
shall be in writing and shall be signed by the lessor and the
lessee, or by their respective agents thereunto lawfully
authorised in writing.
(3) Every agreement for a lease made in writing
or orally under which the person to become lessee went into
possession of the land or buildings, shall take effect and be
construed as a tenancy from year to year from the date of the
entry into possession and until the lease has been actually
executed.
(4) Section 13 (2) and (4) of the Deeds Registry
Act shall apply with respect to every lease not a long lease.
(5) Nothing in this Act shall affect the
provisions of section 13 of the Deeds Registry Act relating to a
long lease.
7. Every lease shall contain—
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Voluntary
waste and
accidental fires.
(a) a statement of the date, the names,
the addresses and occupations of the
parties;
(b) the recitals (if any), the operative
words, the description of the parcels
leased;
(c) the duration of the lease;
(d) the reservation of the rent;
(e) the covenants (if any);
(f) any provisions for re-entry for non-
payment of the rent or non-
observance of covenants;
(g) the determination of the lease by
notice before the expiration thereof (if
so intended).
8. (1) A lessee shall not make voluntary waste of the
land or buildings held under the tenancy without the
permission of the lessor, and if he does so the lessee shall be
liable to pay damages to the lessor.
(2) No action shall be brought by any landlord
against any tenant on or in whose land or buildings any fire
shall accidentally begin in respect of any damage suffered by
him in consequence thereof:
Provided that this subsection shall take effect in so
far only as a contrary intention is not expressed in any
contract or agreement made between landlord and tenant.

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Person
holding over
after
expiration of
tenancy.
Forfeiture of
leases for
breach of
covenant other
than for non-
payment of
rent
9. In case any tenant for years or from year to year
shall wilfully hold over any land or buildings after the
termination or determination of the tenancy, and after
demand made and notice in writing given for delivering the
possession thereof to the person entitled to possession of the
land or buildings, the person so holding over shall, for and
during the time he shall so hold over or keep the person
entitled out of possession, pay to the person so kept out of
possession double the yearly rent which was payable under
the tenancy to be recovered by action in the proper court.
10. (1) A right of re-entry or forfeiture under any
proviso or stipulation in a lease for a breach of any covenant
or condition in the lease shall not be enforceable, by action or
otherwise, unless and until the lessor serves on the lessee a
notice—
(a) specifying the particular breach
complained of; and
(b) if the breach is capable of remedy,
requiring the lessee to remedy the
breach; and
(c) in any case, requiring the lessee to
make compensation in money for the
breach,
and the lessee fails, within reasonable time thereafter, to
remedy the breach, if it is capable of remedy, and to make
reasonable compensation in money, to the satisfaction of the
lessor, for the breach.
(2) Where a lessor is proceeding, by action or
otherwise, to enforce such a right of re-entry or forfeiture, the
lessee may, in the lessor’s action, if any, or in any action
brought by himself, apply to the court for relief, and the court
may grant or refuse relief, as the court, having regard to the
proceedings and conduct of the parties under the foregoing
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provisions of this section and to all the other circumstances,
thinks fit, and in case of relief may grant it on such terms, if
any, as to costs, expenses, damages, compensation, penalty or
otherwise, including the granting of an injunction to restrain
any like breach in the future, as the court, in the
circumstances of each case, thinks fit.
(3) A lessor shall be entitled to recover as a debt
due to him from a lessee, and in addition to damages (if any),
all reasonable costs and expenses properly incurred by the
lessor in the employment of a solicitor and surveyor or
valuer, or otherwise, in reference to any breach giving rise to
a right of re-entry or forfeiture which, at the request of the
lessee, is waived by the lessor, or from which the lessee is
relieved, under this Act.
(4) Where a lessor is proceeding by action or
otherwise to enforce a right of re-entry or forfeiture under any
covenant, proviso or stipulation in a lease, or for non-
payment of rent, the court may, on application by any person
claiming as under-lessee any interest in the tenement or part
thereof, either in the lessor’s action (if any) or in any action
brought by such person for that purpose, make any order
vesting, for the whole term of the lease or any less term, the
land or buildings comprised in the lease or part thereof in any
person entitled as under-lessee to any interest in such land or
buildings upon such conditions as to execution of any deed or
other document, payment of rent, costs, expenses, damages,
compensation, giving security, or otherwise, as the court in
the circumstances of each case may think fit, but in no case
shall any such under-lessee be entitled to require a lease to be
granted to him for any longer term than he had under his
original sub-lease.
(5) This section does not apply to a condition
for forfeiture on the insolvency of the lessee or on the taking
in execution of the lessee’s interest if contained in a lease of—

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Forfeiture for
non-payment
of rent.
Waiver of a
covenant in a
lease.

(a) a house used or intended to be used
as a hotel or spirit shop; or
(b) a house let as a dwelling-house, with
the use of any furniture, books, work
of art or other chattels not being in the
nature of fixtures; or
(c) any property with respect to which
the personal qualifications of the
tenant are of importance for the
preservation of the value or character
of the property, or on the ground of
neighbourhood to the lessor, or to any
person holding under him.
(6) This section shall have effect notwithstanding
any stipulation to the contrary.
11. (1) In the case of any action for a forfeiture brought
for non- payment of rent, the High Court or a judge thereof
shall have power to give relief in a summary manner, and
subject to the same terms and conditions in all respects as to
payment of rent, costs and otherwise as could formerly have
been imposed in the Court of Chancery in England, and if the
lessee, his executors, administrators or assigns are so relieved
that they shall hold the tenement according to the terms of the
lease and without the necessity of any new lease.
(2) Nothing in this section shall affect the
principles of equity applicable to re-entry or forfeiture or
relief in the case of non-payment of rent.
12. (1) Where any actual waiver by a lessor or the
persons deriving title under him of the benefit of any
covenant or condition in any lease is proved to have taken
place in any particular instance, such waiver shall not be
deemed to extend to any instance, or to any breach of
covenant or condition save that to which such waiver
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Vesting of land
and buildings
in possession.

Things
privileged from
distress.
[4 of 1972]
especially relates, nor operate as a general waiver of the
benefit of any such covenant or condition save that to which
such waiver especially relates, nor operate as a general waiver
of the benefit of any such covenant or condition.
(2) This section applies unless a contrary
intention appears and extends to waivers effected after the 1st
January, 1917.
PROVISIONS RELATING TO TENANCIES
GENERALLY
13. The doctrine of interesse termini in the common
law shall have no application in Guyana, and every tenant
shall be deemed to have entered into possession of the land or
buildings intended to be let as from the date fixed for the
commencement of the tenancy, if the same were in the
possession of the landlord at the time of entering into the
contract for a tenancy.
14. Without prejudice to any rule of common law
relating to things privileged from distress for rent, the
following goods and chattels shall be exempt from distress for
rent—
(a) the wearing apparel and bedding of
the tenant or his family and, to the
value of one hundred dollars, the
tools and implements of his trade:
Provided that, in respect of such exemption from
distress, the privilege shall not extend to any case where the
lease, term or interest of the tenant has expired, and
possession of the tenement in respect of which the rent is
claimed has been demanded and the distress is made not
earlier than seven days after such demand; and
(b) in the case of a tenancy relating to
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Fixtures, etc.,
of tenant.

land used for agricultural or grazing
purposes—
(i) agricultural or other machinery
which is the property of a
person other than the tenant,
and is on the tenement under
an agreement with the tenant
for the hire or use thereof in the
conduct of his business;
(ii) livestock which is the property
of a person other than the
tenant and is on the tenement
solely for breeding purposes;
and
(iii) if there be other sufficient
distress on the tenement,
livestock on the tenement
which is the property of a
person other than the tenant,
and has been taken in by the
tenant to be fed at a fair price:
Provided that, in respect of the exemption from
distress referred to in paragraph (b) (iii), if such livestock is so
distrained by reason of other sufficient distress not being
found, there shall not be recovered by that distress a sum
exceeding the amount of the sum agreed to be paid for the
feeding, or any part thereof which remains unpaid.
15. (1) The doctrine of the common law, quicquid solo
plantatur, solo cedit, shall have no application in Guyana to
tenant’s fixtures of any kind, and all such fixtures affixed to a
tenement by a tenant and any building erected by him
thereon for which he is not under any law or otherwise
entitled to compensation, and which is not so affixed or
erected in pursuance of some obligation in that behalf or
instead of some fixture or building belonging to the
landlord, shall be the property of and be removable by
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the tenant before or after the termination of the tenancy:
Provided that—
(a) before the removal of any fixture or
building, the tenant shall pay all rent
owing by him and shall perform or
satisfy all his other obligations to the
landlord in respect of the tenement;
(b) in the removal of any fixture or
building, the tenant shall not do any
avoidable damage to any other
building or to any part of the
tenement;
(c) immediately after the removal of
any fixture or building the tenant
shall make good all damage
occasioned to any other building or to
any part of the tenement by the
removal;
(d) the tenant shall not remove any fixture
or building without giving one
month’s previous notice in writing to
the landlord of his intention to
remove it;
(e) at any time before the expiration of
the notice of removal, the landlord,
by notice in writing given by him to
the tenant, may elect to purchase any
fixture or building comprised in the
notice of removal, and any fixture or
building thus elected to be purchased
shall be left by the tenant, and shall
become the property of the landlord,
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Attornment.
who shall pay to the tenant the fair
value thereof to an incoming tenant of
the tenement, and any difference as to
the value shall be settled by the
magistrate of the magisterial district
in which the tenement lies on
application made by either the
landlord or the tenant.
(2) The proviso to subsection (1) shall not apply
to fixtures and buildings removed before the commencement
of this Act, but subject thereto this section shall have effect
and be deemed always to have had effect as from the 1st
January, 1917.
16. (l) Where land or a building is subject to a lease
the conveyance or assignment of a reversion in the land or
building expectant on the determination of the lease shall be
valid without any attornment of the lessee:
Provided that nothing in this subsection—
(a) shall affect the validity of any
payment of rent by the lessee to the
person making the conveyance or
transfer before notice of such
conveyance or transfer is given to him
by the person entitled thereunder; or
(b) shall render the lessee liable for any
breach of covenant to pay rent, on
account of his failure to pay rent to
the person entitled under the
conveyance or transfer before such
notice is given to the lessee.
(2) An attornment by the lessee in respect of
any land or building to a person claiming to be entitled to the
interest in the land or building of the lessor, if made without
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Effect of
extinguish-
ment of
reversion.
Rights and
duties of
assignees of
reversions.

General words
implied in
leases.
the consent of the lessor, shall be void:
Provided that this subsection shall not apply to an
attornment—
(a) made pursuant to a judgment of a
court of competent jurisdiction; or
(b) to any person rightfully deriving title
under the lessor.
17. (1) Where a reversion expectant on a lease
of land is surrendered or merged, the interest which as
against the lessee for the time being confers the next vested
right to the land, shall be deemed the reversion for the
purpose of preserving the same incidents and obligations
as would have affected the original reversion had there been
no surrender or merger thereof.
(2) This section shall have effect, and be deemed
always to have had effect, as from the 1st January, 1917.
18. All assignees of the reversion shall have and enjoy
all the advantages, benefits and remedies by entry for non-
payment of rent, or for doing waste or other forfeiture or
by action only for non- performance of conditions,
covenants or agreements, contained or expressed in leases
which the lessors had, and conversely, all lessees and their
assigns shall have the same remedies against assignees of the
reversion as they (the lessees) had against the lessors.
19. (1) A lease of land shall be deemed to include and
shall by virtue of this Act operate to grant with the land all
servitudes, easements, rights and advantages whatsoever
appertaining or reputed to appertain to the land, or any part
thereof, or at the time of the lease occupied or enjoyed with or
reputed or known as part or parcel of or appurtenant to the
land or any part thereof.
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Summary
recovery of
rent under
$500 per annum.
[4 of 1972]
Rent payable
in advance.

Claim by
landlord
before
magistrate
for rent due
and issue of,
distress
warrant.
[4 of 1972]
(2) This section shall not be construed as giving
to any person a better title to any property, right or thing in
this section mentioned than the title which the grant gives to
him to the land expressed to be granted, or as granting to him
any property, right or thing in this section mentioned, further
or otherwise than as the same could have been granted to him
by the lessor.
(3) This section applies only if and so far as a
contrary intention is not expressed in the lease, and has effect
subject to the terms of the lease and to the provisions therein
contained.
RECOVERY OF RENT BY DISTRESS
20. All rents not exceeding the sum of five
hundred dollars a year, accruing to a landlord for the hire of
any land or buildings situate in any part of Guyana may be
recovered, and are hereby declared to be recoverable, in the
manner hereinafter set forth.
21. Where it has been agreed between the tenant and
his landlord or agent that the rent is to be payable in advance,
the rent shall be deemed to be due and payable on the day on
which it so becomes payable in advance, and in default of
payment by the tenant on that day, proceedings may be
taken against him for the default.
22. (1) If when any rent not exceeding the sum of five
hundred dollars a year becomes due the tenant remains in
default of payment thereof for seven days after it has become
due, the landlord or his agent may lay his claim, with the
particulars thereof in writing properly substantiated or sworn
before a magistrate or a clerk of the court, who is hereby
authorised to administer the oath in connection therewith.
(2) The magistrate shall thereupon issue a
warrant authorising any constable or bailiff in the daytime to
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Breaking
open place
for goods
removed.

Liability of
person
assisting in
fraudulent
removal of
goods.
enter, and if necessary to break open, the tenement in respect
of which the rent is due between the hours of nine in the
morning and four in the afternoon, and, in the presence of the
landlord or his agent and under his direction, to distrain the
goods and chattels therein sufficient to satisfy the amount
due, subject, however, to any privilege from distress at
common law or under this Act.
(3) The constable or bailiff, in the presence and
at the desire or under the direction of the landlord or his
agent, if sufficient property is not found on the tenement,
may distrain any of the goods and chattels of the tenant
fraudulently or clandestinely carried off the tenement to
prevent the landlord from distraining the same for rent in
arrear, wherever they are found within the space of thirty
days next ensuing such carrying off, unless they have
been sold for a valuable consideration before such distraint
to any person not privy to such fraud.
(4) The person executing the warrant of distress
shall make out and leave with the tenant an inventory of the
goods distrained.
23. The constable or bailiff, under warrant and in
presence as aforesaid, may break open in the daytime any
place where the goods are locked up or whither they have
been fraudulently removed:
Provided that, if that place is a dwelling-house, the
landlord or his agent shall first satisfy the magistrate by
sworn testimony that there is reasonable ground to suspect
that the goods are concealed in it.
24. All persons privy to or assisting in any fraudulent
conveyance of the goods and chattels from the tenement upon
which any rent is due shall forfeit to the landlord double the
value of the rent, to be recovered in any court of competent
jurisdiction.
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Detention of
furniture being
clandestinely
removed.
Sale of goods
distrained and
not replevied.
Replevin.
25. (1) Any police constable, in the presence and at the
request, or under the direction, of a landlord or his agent,
may stop and detain, until due inquiry can be made, all carts
and carriages which he finds employed in removing furniture
from any buildings belonging to that landlord, and in
consequence of that request or direction he may take to the
nearest police station all furniture being removed in any
manner whenever the landlord or his agent alleges that rent is
in arrear and that the removal is being made for the purpose
of evading the payment thereof.
(2) Every landlord or agent who causes any
furniture to be detained or taken to a police station under the
last preceding subsection for any rent pretended to be in
arrear and due in respect of the hiring of the building from
which the said furniture is being removed where in truth no
rent is in arrear shall be liable to pay as damages double the
amount of the rent claimed.
26. Where any goods or chattels are distrained for
any rent reserved and due, they shall be set up for sale by
public auction at the expiration of five days after the distress,
unless the tenant or owner of the goods distrained replevy
them as hereinafter provided:
Provided that the magistrate may extend the time
for setting up the goods and chattels for sale.
27. (l) The remedy of replevin under the common
law shall be available to the owner of goods which have been
wrongfully taken under a distress for rent.
(2) Where the tenant or owner of the goods
distrained desires to replevy them he shall serve the bailiff
with a notice to that effect before sale and at the same time
deposit the amount of rent due and five dollars as security for
costs, which shall include the cost for appraisement of the
goods if the replevisor desires an appraisement, and shall
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22 Cap. 61:01 Landlord and Tenant
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Liability of
person
distraining
where no rent
due.

sign an act of deposit or, in lieu of deposit, enter into a
recognisance with at least one sufficient surety to the
satisfaction of the magistrate conditioned for the due and
effective prosecution of the action, including the payment
of the costs aforesaid, and on concluding the aforesaid
deposit and act of deposit, or recognisance, the bailiff shall
restore those of the goods distrained in respect of which a
replevin has been made.
(3) If the replevisor succeeds in his action, the
sums deposited for the amount of rent shall be paid over to
him, and the defendant shall pay to the replevisor any costs to
which he has been put or which have been awarded to him by
judgment of the court.
(4) If the defendant succeeds in the action, the
court shall find the value of the goods so distrained and
judgment shall be given for the amount of that value if it does
not exceed the amount of rent for which the distress was
made, but if the amount of the value so found exceeds the
amount of the rent judgment shall be given for the amount of
the rent, and the replevisor shall, in either case, pay all costs
to which the defendant has been put, or such costs as are
awarded by the judgment of the court, and the judgment with
the costs shall be satisfied out of the sums so deposited, or in
case of a recognizance by estreating it.
(5) If any other cause of action shall be joined
with an action for replevin, the court may order a separate
trial of any other claim which cannot be conveniently tried
with the action for replevin.
28. If any distress aforesaid is made by virtue or
under colour of this Act for rent pretended to be in arrear and
due, where in truth no rent is in arrear or due to the person
distraining or to him in whose name or right the distress is
taken as aforesaid, then the owner of the goods or chattels
distrained, his heirs, executors, administrators and assigns,
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Preference of
landlord over
execution
creditors for
rent due to
certain
amount.
shall and may, by action to be brought within three months
after the date of the distress against the person so
distraining, his heirs, executors, or administrators, recover
double the value of the rent claimed and distrained for,
together with full costs of the suit.
29. (1) Where an execution issued out of the High
Court is levied upon any goods or chattels whatsoever, lying
or being in or upon any lands or in any buildings held under
any tenancy, those goods and chattels shall be sold by virtue
of the execution, subject to the right of the landlord of the
premises to payment out of the net proceeds of the sale, of the
sum of money due for rent for the premises at the time of the
taking the goods and chattels by virtue of the execution:
Provided that—
(a) the landlord, within five days from
the date of the levy shall claim that
sum by delivering to the marshal
making the levy a statutory
declaration, made and signed by
himself or his agent, stating the
amount of rent claimed to be in arrear
and the time for and in respect of
which that rent is due; and
(b) not more than six months’ rent, or
more than one hundred and twenty
dollars, whichever sum may be the
lower, shall be paid to the landlord
for or in respect of the arrears.
(2) In that case the proper officer of the court
shall, without further authority or warrant than is hereby
granted, pay out to the landlord, after deduction of the costs
of execution only, all and every sum and sums not exceeding
six months’ rent or one hundred and twenty dollars.

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c. 7:01

Effect of
irregularity in
making distress.
(3) The landlord of any house or other building
in which any movable property is seized and taken by virtue
of a writ of execution issued under the Summary Jurisdiction
(Petty Debt) Act may claim the rent thereof at any time within
five days from the date of the seizure and taking, or before
the removal of the property, by delivering to the bailiff
making the levy a statutory declaration made and signed by
himself or his agent, stating the amount of rent claimed to be
in arrear, and the time for and in respect of which it is due.
(4) If that claim is made, the bailiff making the
levy shall, in addition thereto, distrain for the rent so claimed
and the costs of the distress, and shall not within five days
next after the distress sell any part of the property taken
unless it is of a perishable nature, or with the consent in
writing of the party against whom the writ has been issued;
and the bailiff shall afterwards sell such of the property taken,
as may satisfy, first, the costs of and incidental to the sale,
next, the claim of the landlord, not exceeding the rent of four
weeks where the house or other building is let by the week,
the rent of six months where the house or other building is let
for any other term less than a year, and the rent of one year in
any other case, and, lastly, the amount for which the writ of
execution was issued; and the overplus of the sale, if any, and
the residue of the property so seized and taken, shall be
returned to the party against whom the writ has been issued.
(5) The fees and costs of the bailiff in respect of
the distress shall be the same as would have been payable if
the distress had been an execution of the court, and no other
fees shall be demanded or taken in respect thereof.
30. (1) Where any distress is made for any rent
justly due, and any irregularity or unlawful act is afterwards
done by the party distraining or his agent, the distress itself
shall not therefore be deemed to be unlawful, nor the party
making it be deemed a trespasser ab initio, but the party
aggrieved by the irregularity or unlawful act may recover by
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Delivery of
copy of costs
and charges of
distress.

Distress
within
6 months after
lease
determined.
Distress for
rent
exceeding
$500 per annum.
[4 of 1972
6 of 1997]
action in any court of competent jurisdiction, full satisfaction
for any special damage he has sustained thereby, and no
more:
Provided that where the plaintiff recovers in the
action, he shall be paid his full costs of suit and have all the
like remedies for them as in other cases.
(2) No tenant or lessee shall recover in an action
for any irregularity or unlawful act aforesaid, if tender or
sufficient amends has been made by the party distraining or
his agent before action brought.
31. Every agent or other person who makes and
levies a distress shall give a copy (signed by him) of his
charges, and of all the costs and charges of any distress, to the
person or persons on whose goods and chattels the distress is
levied.
32. It shall be lawful for any person having any rent
in arrear or due upon any tenancy for years or from year to
year or at will ended or determined to distrain for such
arrears after the determination of the said respective tenancies
in the same manner as they might have done if such tenancy
had not been ended or determined:
Provided that such distress be made within the
space of six calendar months after the termination or
determination of such tenancies and during the continuance
of such landlord’s title or interest and during the possession
of the tenant from whom such arrears became due.
33. (1) The remedy of distress for rent in the
common law shall be available to every landlord in relation to
tenancies in respect of which the rent reserved exceeds five
hundred dollars per annum.
person, the distress shall be levied by a certified bailiff.
(2) If the landlord does not himself distrain in
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Power of sale of
distress taken
for rent
exceeding
$500 per annum.
[4 of 1972]
(3) No person shall act as a bailiff to levy any
distress for rent under this section unless he shall be
authorised to act as a bailiff by a certificate in writing under
the hand of a magistrate and such certificate may be general
or apply to a particular distress or distresses and may be
granted in such manner and for such duration as may be
prescribed by rules made under the Summary Jurisdiction
(Magistrates) Act.
(4) A certificate granted to a bailiff by a
magistrate may at any time be cancelled.
(5) If any person not holding a certificate under
this section levies a distress, he and any person who has
authorised him so to levy shall be deemed to have committed
a trespass, and he shall, without prejudice to that civil
liability, be liable on summary conviction to a fine of thirteen
thousand dollars.
34. Where any goods and chattels are distrained
for any rent exceeding five hundred dollars per annum
reserved and due upon any tenancy whatsoever, and the
tenant or owner of the goods so distrained does not, within
five days after such distress taken, or such extended period of
not more than fifteen days as the landlord or other person
levying the distress may at the request in writing of the tenant
or owner grant, and after notice thereof given by the landlord
to the tenant, replevy the same with sufficient security to be
given to the clerk of the court according to law, then the
person distraining shall with the said clerk cause the goods
and chattels so distrained to be appraised and thereafter shall
sell the goods and chattels at public auction and apply the
proceeds to the satisfaction of the rent and charges of such
distress, appraisement and sale leaving the overplus (if any)
in the hands of the said clerk for the owner’s use.

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Application of
certain
provisions to
distress for
rent exceeding
$500 per annum.
[4 of 1972]
Power of under
tenant, lodger,
or other person,
where distress
levied, to make
declaration
that immediate
tenant has no
property in
goods
distrained.
[6 of 1997]

35. (1) Section 22 (3) and sections 23 to 32 (inclusive)
and 50 to 54 (inclusive) shall, mutatis mutandis, apply to a
distress for rent exceeding five hundred dollars per annum.
(2) All things being upon any tenement at the
time of a distress taken in respect of rent which exceeds five
hundred dollars per annum shall be subject to the privileges
and exemptions from distress existing at common law or
under this Act.
SPECIAL PROVISIONS RELATING TO THE
LANDLORD’S RIGHT OF DISTRESS FOR RENT
36. (1) If any superior landlord shall levy, or
authorise to be levied, a distress on any furniture, goods or
chattels of—
(a) any under tenant liable to pay by
equal instalments not less often than
every month of a year rent in respect
of the whole or part of the tenement
let by the superior landlord to his
immediate tenant; or
(b) any lodger; or
(c) any other person whomsoever not
being a tenant of the tenement or of
any part thereof, and not having any
beneficial interest in any tenancy of
the tenement or of any part thereof,
for arrears of rent due to such
superior landlord by his immediate
tenant, such under tenant, lodger, or
other person aforesaid may serve
such superior landlord, or his agent,
with a declaration in writing made by
such under tenant, lodger, or other
person aforesaid, setting forth that
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such immediate tenant has no right
of property or beneficial interest in
the furniture, goods, or chattels, so
distrained or threatened to be
distrained upon, and that such
furniture, goods or chattels are the
property or in the lawful possession
of such under tenant, lodger, or other
person aforesaid, and are not goods
or livestock to which this Act is
expressed not to apply; and also, in
the case of an under tenant or lodger,
setting forth the amount of rent (if
any) then due to his immediate
landlord, and the times at which
future instalments of rent will become
due, and the amount thereof, and
containing an undertaking to pay to
the superior landlord any rent so due
or to become due to his immediate
landlord, until the arrears of rent in
respect of which the distress was
levied or authorised to be levied have
been paid off, and to such declaration
shall be annexed a correct inventory,
subscribed by the under tenant,
lodger, or other person aforesaid, of
the furniture, goods, and chattels
referred to in the declaration.
(2) If any under tenant, lodger or other person
aforesaid shall make or subscribe such declaration and
inventory knowing the same or either of them to be untrue in
any material particular, he shall be guilty of an offence and
shall be liable on conviction—
(a) under the Summary Jurisdiction Acts,
to a fine of thirty-two thousand five
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L.R.O. 1/2012

Penalty on
superior
landlord for
illegal distress
after
declaration.
Payments by
under tenant
or lodger to
superior
landlord.
hundred dollars and to imprisonment
for one year;
(b) on indictment to imprisonment for
two years.
37. (1) If any superior landlord, or any agent
employed by him, shall, after being served with the before-
mentioned declaration and inventory, and in the case of an
under tenant or lodger after such undertaking as aforesaid
has been given, and the amount of rent (if any) then due has
been paid or tendered in accordance with that undertaking,
levy or proceed with a distress on the furniture, goods or
chattels of the under tenant, lodger, or other person aforesaid,
such superior landlord or agent shall be deemed guilty of an
illegal distress, and the under tenant, lodger, or other person
aforesaid, may apply to a magistrate for an order for the
restoration to him of such goods, and such application shall
be heard before a magistrate who shall inquire into the truth
of such declaration and inventory, and shall make such order
for the recovery of the goods or otherwise as to him may
seem just, and the superior landlord shall also be liable to an
action at law at the suit of the under tenant, lodger, or other
person aforesaid, in which action the truth of the declaration
and inventory may likewise be inquired into.
(2) Such application and action may be joined in
the same proceeding.
38. For the purpose of the recovery of any sums
payable by an under tenant or lodger to a superior landlord
under such an undertaking as aforesaid, or under a notice
served in accordance with section 41, the under tenant or
lodger shall be deemed to be the immediate tenant of the
superior landlord, and the sums payable shall be deemed to
be rent; but, where the under tenant or lodger has, in
pursuance of any such undertaking or notice as aforesaid,
paid any sums to the superior landlord, he may deduct the
amount thereof from any rent due or which may become due
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Exclusion of
certain goods.
from him to his immediate landlord, and any person (other
than the tenant for whose rent the distress is levied or
authorised to be levied) from whose rent a deduction has
been made in respect of such a payment may make the like
deductions from any rent due or which may become due
from him to his immediate landlord.
39. Sections 36 to 42 (inclusive) shall not apply to—
(a) goods belonging to the husband or
wife of the tenant whose rent is in
arrears; or
(b) goods comprised in any bill of sale,
hire-purchase agreement, or
settlement made by such tenant; or
(c) goods in the possession, order, or
disposition of such tenant by the
consent and permission of the true
owner under such circumstances that
such tenant is the reputed owner
thereof; or
(d) any livestock to which section 14 (b)
applies; or
(e) goods of a partner of the immediate
tenant; or
(f) goods (not being goods of a lodger)
upon premises where any trade or
business is carried on in which both
the immediate tenant and the under
tenant have an interest; or
(g) goods (not being goods of a lodger)
on premises used as offices or
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Exclusion of
certain under
tenants.

Notice by
superior
landlord to
under tenant to
pay him rent
due by
immediate
tenant.
warehouses where the owner of the
goods neglects for one calendar
month after notice (which shall be
given in like manner as a notice to
quit) to remove the goods and vacate
the premises; or
(h) goods belonging to and in the offices
of any company or corporation on
premises the immediate tenant
whereof is a director or officer, or in
the employment of such company or
corporation:
Provided that it shall be competent for a
magistrate, upon application by the superior landlord or any
under tenant or other such person as aforesaid after hearing
the parties to determine whether any goods are in fact goods
covered by paragraphs (e) to (h) (inclusive).
40. Sections 36 to 42 (inclusive) shall not apply to
any under tenant where the under tenancy has been created
in breach of any covenant or agreement in writing between
the landlord and his immediate tenant, or where the under
tenancy has been created under a lease existing at the date of
the commencement of this Act, contrary to the wish of the
landlord in that behalf, expressed in writing and delivered at
the tenement within a reasonable time after the circumstances
have come, or with due diligence would have come, to his
knowledge.
41. (1) In cases where the rent of the immediate
tenant of the superior landlord is in arrear, it shall be lawful
for such superior landlord to serve upon any under tenant or
lodger a notice addressed to such under tenant or lodger
upon the tenement stating the amount of such arrears of rent,
and requiring all future payments of rent, whether the same
has already accrued due or not, by such under tenant or
lodger to be made direct to the superior landlord giving such
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32 Cap. 61:01 Landlord and Tenant
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Definitions.

Distress levied
on goods and
chattels
formerly
comprised in
bill of sale or
hire purchase
agreement.
[6 of 1997]
notice until such arrears shall have been duly paid, and such
notice shall operate to transfer to the superior landlord the
right to recover, receive, and give a discharge for such a rent.
(2) If any superior landlord shall wilfully make
any false statement in such notice he shall be guilty of an
offence.
42. In sections 36 to 41 (inclusive) the words “superior
landlord” shall be deemed to include a landlord in cases
where the goods seized are not those of an under-tenant or
lodger, and the words “tenant” and “under tenant” do not
include a lodger.
43. (1) All goods and chattels which were formerly
comprised in any bill of sale given in security for the payment
of money or in any hire purchase agreement and remaining
upon the tenement shall be liable to be seized and taken as a
distress for rent reserved and in arrear, notwithstanding that
the goods have been seized by the assignee under the bill of
sale or the hire purchase agreement has been terminated by
the hire owner, subject to the following conditions:
(a) that the value of the interest of the
assignor in the goods and chattels
prior to the seizure thereof, or the
amount paid by the hire purchaser
under the hire purchase agreement
prior to the seizure thereof, or the
amount paid by the hire purchaser
under the hire purchase agreement
prior to the termination thereof, was
at least double the amount of the rent
for which the distraint is made; or
(b) that the landlord pays the balance of
money due to the assignee under the
bill of sale before the seizure of the
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goods and chattels, or the amount due
to the hire owner under the hire
purchase agreement before the
termination thereof.
(2) Where a distress has been levied on any
such goods and chattels subject to subsection (1) (a) and the
goods and chattels have afterwards been sold pursuant
thereto, the assignee or the hire owner as the case may be
shall be entitled to receive any surplus proceeds from the sale
thereof.
(3) Where a distress has been levied on such
goods and chattels subject to subsection (1) (b) and the goods
and chattels have afterwards been sold pursuant thereto, the
hire purchaser or the assignor, as the case may be, shall be
entitled to receive any surplus proceeds from the sale after
the landlord has recovered all rent due and expenses and the
balance of money paid to the assignee or the hire owner
under the said paragraph (b).
(4) Every assignee under a bill of sale or hire
owner under a hire purchase agreement shall, in relation to
all goods and chattels formerly comprised in such bill of
sale or hire purchase agreement and distrained on upon a
tenement, serve on the landlord who takes any such goods
and chattels as a distress a statement showing the details of
the account between the assignor and the assignee or the hire
purchaser and the hire owner, and if any assignee or hire
owner makes any such statement knowing the same to be
untrue in any material particular, he shall be liable on
summary conviction to a fine of sixteen thousand two
hundred and fifty dollars or to imprisonment for a term not
exceeding three months.
(5) If, in relation to any goods and chattels
which were formerly comprised in a bill of sale or hire
purchase agreement and distrained on whilst upon the
tenement for rent reserved and due, none of the conditions of
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Conditions
implied in the
letting of
houses.

subsection (1) (a) and (b) has been fulfilled, the assignee or the
hire owner, as the case may be, may apply to a magistrate for
an order that the goods be delivered up to him.
LANDLORD’S DUTY TO REPAIR CERTAIN
TENEMENTS
44. (1) In any contract for letting any house for human
habitation, there shall, notwithstanding any stipulation to the
contrary, be implied a condition that the house is at the
commencement of the tenancy, and an undertaking that the
house will be kept by the landlord during the tenancy, in
repair and in all respects reasonably fit for human habitation:
Provided that the condition and undertaking
aforesaid shall not be implied where a house is let for a term
of not less than three years upon the terms that it be put by
the lessee into a condition reasonably fit for human
habitation, and the lease is not determinable at the option of
either party before the expiration of three years.
(2) The landlord, or any person authorised by
him in writing, may at reasonable times of the day, on giving
twenty-four hours’ notice in writing to the tenant or occupier,
enter any premises to which this section applies for the
purpose of viewing the state and condition thereof.
(3) Where the property or the person or the
health of an inmate of any house to which this section applies
is, by reason of a breach by the landlord of the condition or
the undertaking in this section mentioned, injuriously
affected, such inmate shall be entitled to recover damages
from the landlord of the house in respect of such injurious
affection.
(4) This section applies to a contract made either
before or after the commencement of this Act.

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Neglect to pay
rent a
determination
of tenancy in
certain cases.

Recovery of
possession
after
termination or
determination
of tenancy
where tenancy
is at a rent not
exceeding
$1,200 a year.
[6 of 1997]

c. 7:01
RECOVERY OF POSSESSION OF TENEMENTS
45. Where the tenant of any building held by him as a
tenant from month to month or weekly at a rent which does
not exceed the rate of ten dollars a month, fails to pay the rent
due within seven days after the day on which it becomes due
and payable, the failure shall for the purpose of enabling the
landlord to recover possession be deemed a determination of
the tenancy and the landlord may proceed to recover
possession of that building under this Act.
46. (1) Whenever the term or interest of any tenant of
a tenement held by him at will or for a term, either without
being liable to the payment of rent, or at a rent not exceeding
the rate of twelve hundred dollars a year, has ended or has
been determined by a legal notice to quit, or otherwise, if the
tenant (or, when he does not himself occupy the premises or
occupies only a part thereof, if the person by whom they or
any part thereof are or is occupied) refuses or neglects to
deliver up possession of them the following provisions shall
apply:
(a) the former landlord or his agent may
file against the former tenant or
occupier an action under the
Summary Jurisdiction (Petty Debt)
Act for the recovery of possession of
the land or buildings formerly held
under the tenancy;
(b) if the former tenant or occupier does
not appear in accordance with the
summons, or appears but does not
show to the satisfaction of the
magistrate reasonable cause why
possession should not be delivered
up, and still refuses or neglects to
deliver up the possession of the
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premises to the former landlord or his
agent, the magistrate, on proof of the
holding and of the end or
determination of the tenancy and the
time and manner thereof (and, where
the title of the landlord has accrued
since the letting of the premises, on
proof of the right by which he claims
the possession) may order that
possession of the land or buildings be
delivered up by the former tenant or
occupier as well as by all persons who
were theretofore on the land or in the
buildings through or under the
former tenant;
(c) at the hearing of an action for
possession of any land or buildings,
the former landlord may adduce
evidence of the mesne profits thereof
which shall or might have accrued
from the day of the expiration or
determination of the former tenant’s
interest in the same down to the time
of judgment or to some preceding
day to be specially mentioned therein,
and if the court finds that mesne
profits are due judgment may be
given for the recovery of the whole or
part of the land or buildings as well as
for the amount of the damages to be
paid for such mesne profits:
Provided that nothing herein contained shall be
construed to bar any former landlord from bringing any
action for the mesne profits which shall accrue from the
judgment, or the day specified therein, down to the day of the
delivery of possession of the land or buildings recovered in
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the ejectment;
(d) if the former tenant or occupier or any
person lawfully on the land or in the
buildings through or under him fails
to deliver up possession of the land or
buildings as directed by the order
within the period fixed thereby the
magistrate may issue a warrant of
ejectment to any constable or bailiff
requiring and authorising him
forthwith or within a period to be
named therein to give possession of
the land or buildings to the former
landlord or his agent, and that
warrant shall be a sufficient authority
to any constable or bailiff executing it
to enter upon the land or buildings,
with any assistants he deems
necessary, and to give possession
accordingly; but the entry shall not be
made on a public holiday, or at any
time except between the hours of nine
in the morning and four in the
afternoon;
(e) at the time of the making or giving of
any judgment or order for the
recovery of possession of any land or
buildings, or of any application for
the ejectment of a former tenant or
occupier or other person thereon or
therein through or under the former
tenant or occupier, the court may
adjourn the hearing of the action, or
stay or suspend execution on the
order or judgment, or postpone the
date of possession for any period
subject to such conditions (if any) in
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c. 7:01.
regard to payment by the former
tenant or occupier of arrears of rent,
mesne profits and otherwise as the
court thinks fit;
(f) the law, practice and procedure under
the Summary Jurisdiction (Petty Debt)
Act and the Summary Jurisdiction
(Civil Procedure) Rules shall apply to
the plaint, the issue of the summons
and the hearing and determination of
the action for the recovery of
possession under this section.
(2) Where the tenement consisted of lands the
following provisions shall apply:
(a) if at the hearing of the action for
possession there are growing crops
thereon which have been planted by
the former tenant or by those from
whom he derives his interest, the
magistrate may direct that the former
landlord shall, before obtaining an
order for possession, deposit with the
clerk of court the value of those
growing crops, after deducting the
amount of what is due and will
become due for rent of the land up to
the time when the order will be made,
and after deducting the costs
incurred, if the value of the crops
exceeds that sum;
(b) the magistrate shall have full power
to inquire into and determine the
value of the crops, and, on the
warrant being returned executed,
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may direct that the amount be paid
over to the former tenant;
(c) the magistrate may authorise any
person or persons to enter on the
lands the possession of which is
claimed, and direct him or them to
appraise the value of the growing
crops;
(d) every person so appointed may enter
on the lands and examine the crops,
and every person who obstructs any
person so appointed shall be guilty of
an offence and on conviction thereof
shall be liable on summary conviction
to a fine of two thousand six hundred
dollars.
(3) If any person who, previously to the
execution of the warrant, was a tenant, or any person who
was on the land or in the buildings under or through the
former tenant, after the execution of the warrant re-enters on
the land or in the buildings, he shall, unless he has acquired
title to the land or buildings after the warrant is issued, be
deemed a wilful trespasser and shall be liable on summary
conviction to a fine of thirteen thousand dollars or to
imprisonment for three months:
Provided that nothing herein contained shall be
deemed to protect any person at whose instance a warrant to
deliver possession of land or buildings is issued as aforesaid
from any action brought against him by the former tenant or
occupier for or in respect of the entry and taking possession
where he had not, at the time of issue of the warrant, lawful
right to the possession of the premises.
(4) The plaintiff may join in an action for the
recovery of land or buildings under this Act claims in respect
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c. 3:04.
Warrant
obtained
without right
of possession.

of mesne profits, arrears of rent, double value in respect of the
land or buildings claimed or any part thereof, damages for
breach of any contract under which the same or any part
thereof was held or for any wrong or injury to the land or
buildings.
(5) The plaintiff or the defendant may appeal from
the decision of the magistrate given in any action for
possession of land or buildings filed under this Act to the
court under the Summary Jurisdiction (Appeals) Act in the
manner and in accordance with the provisions prescribed in
that Act.
47. (1) Wherever the person at whose instance any
warrant to give possession as aforesaid is granted had not at
the time of granting it lawful right to the possession of the
land or buildings, the obtaining of the warrant shall be
deemed a trespass by him against the tenant or occupier of
the land or buildings, although no entry may be made by
virtue of the warrant; and if the tenant or occupier becomes
bound, with two sureties as hereinafter provided to be
approved by the magistrate, in a sum to him seeming
reasonable, regard being had to the value of the premises and
to the probable costs of an action, to sue the person at whose
instance the warrant to give possession was granted with
effect and without delay, and to pay all the costs of the
proceedings in the action in case judgment is given for the
defendant, or the plaintiff discontinues or does not prosecute
his action or is nonsuited therein, execution of the warrant
shall be delayed until judgment is given in the action; and if,
on the trial of the action, judgment is given for the plaintiff,
that judgment shall supersede the warrant so granted and the
plaintiff shall be entitled to double costs in the action.
(2) The bond shall be made to and at the cost of the
landlord or his agent, and shall be approved and signed by
the magistrate; and if the bond so taken is forfeited, or if on
the trial of the action for securing the trial of which the bond
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Protection of
magistrate,
bailiff and
constable.

Irregularity in
proceeding, but
landlord has
lawful right to
possession.
[4 of 1972]
was given the judge by whom it is tried does not endorse
upon the record in court that the condition of the bond has
been fulfilled, the party in whose favour the bond has been so
made may bring an action, and recover thereon:
Provided that the court where the action last
aforesaid is brought may by order give any relief to the
parties upon the bond agreeable to justice, and that order
shall have the nature and effect of a defeasance to the bond.
48. No action or prosecution may be brought against
the magistrate by whom the warrant aforesaid has been
issued or against any constable or bailiff by whom it is
executed, for that issue or execution respectively, by reason
that the person on whose application it was granted had not
lawful right to the possession of the premises.
49. Where the landlord at the time of applying for the
warrant aforesaid had lawful right to the possession of the
premises, or of the part thereof so held over as aforesaid,
neither he nor his agent, nor any other person acting in his
behalf shall be deemed to be a trespasser by reason merely of
an irregularity or informality in the mode of proceeding
for obtaining possession under the authority of this Act, but
the party aggrieved, if he thinks fit, may bring an action for
the irregularity or informality, in which the damage alleged
to be sustained thereby shall be specially laid, and may
recover full satisfaction for that special damage, with costs of
suit:
Provided that, if the special damage so laid is not
proved, the defendant shall be entitled to judgment, and if
proved but assessed by the court at any sum not exceeding
five dollars, the plaintiff shall recover no more costs than
damages, unless the court or judge before whom the trial has
been held certifies upon the record that full cost ought to be
allowed.

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Regulation of
costs of distress
and ejectment.

Remedy for
taking
unauthorised
costs and
charges.
MISCELLANEOUS PROVISIONS
50. No person making, or employed in any manner
whatsoever in making, any distress for rent, or in ejecting any
tenant, or in doing any act whatsoever in the course of the
distress, or for carrying it into effect, shall take or receive out
of the produce of the goods and chattels detrained upon and
sold, or from the tenant detrained on or ejected, or from the
landlord, or from any other person whomsoever, other or
more costs and charges for and in respect of that distress or
ejectment or any other matter or thing done therein than
those fixed and allowed by law and appropriated to each act
done in the cause of the distress or ejectment; and no person
shall make any charge whatsoever for any act, matter, or
thing in respect of which the costs and charges are so fixed,
allowed, and appropriated, unless that act has been actually
done.
51. (1) If any person in any manner levies, takes, or
receives from any person whomsoever, or retains or takes
from the produce of any goods sold for the payment of the
rent, any other or greater costs and charges than are so fixed,
allowed, and appropriated as aforesaid, or makes any charge
whatsoever for any act, matter, or thing aforesaid which has
not been really done, the party aggrieved by those practices
may apply to a magistrate for the redress of his
grievances so occasioned.
(2) The magistrate shall summon the person
of whom complaint is made to appear before him at a
reasonable time to be fixed in the summons, and examine into
the matter of the complaint by all legal ways and means, and
also hear in like manner the defence of that person.
(3) If, on the hearing, it appears to the magistrate
that that person has levied, taken, or received, other and
greater costs and charges than are so fixed, allowed, and
appropriated as aforesaid, or made any charge for any act,
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Summoning of
witnesses.
[6 of 1997]

Power to order
costs if
complaint not
founded.
matter or thing aforesaid which has not been actually done,
he shall order and adjudge treble the amount of the moneys
so unlawfully taken to be paid by the person who has so
acted to the party who has thus preferred his complaint
thereof, together with full costs.
(4) In case of non-payment of any moneys or costs
so ordered and adjudged to be paid, the magistrate shall
forthwith issue his warrant to levy them by distress and sale
of the goods and chattels of the party ordered to pay them,
rendering the overplus, if any, to the owner after the payment
of the charges of the distress and sale; and if no sufficient
distress can be had, the magistrate shall, by warrant under his
hand, commit the party to prison, there to remain for any
time not exceeding two calendar months, unless the order or
judgment is sooner satisfied.
52. (1) The magistrate may, at the request of either of
the parties, summon all persons as witnesses and may
administer an oath to them touching the matter of the
complaint or of the defence to it.
(2) Any person so summoned who fails without
any reasonable or lawful excuse to obey the summons, or
refuses to be examined upon oath, shall forfeit and pay a sum
not exceeding six hundred and fifty dollars, to be ordered,
levied, and paid in the manner and by the means, and with
the power of commitment hereinbefore directed as to the
order and judgment to be given between the parties in the
original complaint, excepting so far as regards the form of the
order.
53. The magistrate may, if he finds that the complaint
of the party aggrieved is not well founded, order and adjudge
costs, not exceeding ten dollars, to be paid to the party against
whom complaint is made, which order shall be carried into
effect, and levied, and paid in the manner, and with like
power of commitment, hereinbefore directed as to the order
and judgment founded on the original complaint:
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Proof of order
and judgment.
Provided that—
(a) nothing herein contained shall
empower the magistrate to make any
order or judgment against the
landlord for whose benefit any
distress or ejectment has been made,
unless the landlord has personally
levied the distress or rejected the
tenant; and
(b) no person aggrieved by any distress,
or any process of ejectment for rent or
by any proceedings had in the course
thereof, or by any costs and charges
levied upon him in respect thereof,
shall be barred from any legal or
other suit or remedy which he might
have had before the commencement
of this Act, excepting so far as any
complaint to be preferred under this
Act has been determined by the
order and judgment of the magistrate
before whom it has been heard and
determined, and that order and
judgment shall and may be given in
evidence under the plea of the general
issue in all cases where the matter of
the complaint may be made the
subject of any action.
54. An order and a judgment on any complaint
aforesaid may be proved before any court by proof of the
signature of the magistrate thereto; and orders regarding
persons who have been summoned as witnesses shall be
made in the form to the magistrate seeming most fit and
convenient.
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Mode of
serving
notices.

Appointment
of certified
bailiffs.
55. A notice in writing given by or on behalf of a
landlord or a tenant may be served—
(a) on the tenant by delivering the same
to him personally, or by leaving it for
him at the tenement with some
person there residing, or by
sending it through the post in a
registered letter addressed to the
tenant there, or in the case of a
company by delivering it or sending
it in a registered letter to the
secretary or other proper officer at
the registered office of the company;
and
(b) on the landlord by delivering the
same to him or to his agent
personally, or by leaving it for either
of them at his most usual place of
abode, or by sending it through the
post in a registered letter addressed
to either of them there, or in case of a
company by delivering it, or sending
it in a registered letter, to the
secretary or other proper officer at
the registered office of the company.
56. (1) It shall be lawful for the magistrate in
charge of any magisterial district to appoint such and so
many fit and proper persons as certified bailiffs as may be
necessary in that district to expedite the execution of distress
warrants and warrants to give possession of land or buildings
to former landlords.
(2) A certified bailiff shall by virtue of his
appointment be a rural constable and have all the powers
and immunities of such a constable and he shall be paid for
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Registration of
agents.
Receipts or
acknowledge-
ments to be
given on
payment of
rent.
each execution such sums as may from time to time be
prescribed by the Minister by notice published in the Gazette.
(3) For the purpose of the execution of any such
warrant a certified bailiff shall have the same powers and
authorities as a bailiff of the court.
57. (l) Every person shall, before acting as an agent, be
registered as such with the clerk of the court of the
magisterial district in which the tenement is situate, and if he
so acts while his name is not on the register he shall be guilty
of an offence.
(2) It shall be lawful for the magistrate in
charge of any magisterial district to authorise the clerk of
court of that district to register any fit and proper person as
an agent and any person registered as agent may be removed
from the register by order of the magistrate on any ground
of misconduct which the magistrate may think sufficient.
(3) The clerk of court shall keep a register
called the “Landlords’ Agents Register” (in this section
referred to as “the register”) in which he shall enter the
name, address and occupation of every person whom he has
been authorised by the magistrate to register as an agent and
he shall remove the name of any agent from the register if
directed so to do by the magistrate.
(4) The register or an extract therefrom shall be
prima facie evidence in all courts of the registration, or the
non-registration, of a person as an agent.
58. (1) Except where a rent-book is in use as required
by section 59, every landlord or his agent shall give to every
tenant, or person representing a tenant, who pays any sum of
money for or on account of rent a receipt or acknowledgment
for such rent or portion of rent so paid.

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Rent book.

Disturbance of
tenant’s
peaceable
enjoyment.
[6 of 1997]
(2) The full name and address of the landlord shall
be written or printed by the landlord or his agent on every
such receipt or acknowledgment.
59. (1) Where the rent for the year, month or week
does not exceed five dollars, the landlord shall provide a rent
book in respect of every tenant.
(2) The names and addresses of the landlord and
the tenant, a short description of the tenement and the
amount of the rent reserved shall be legibly written by the
landlord at the head of the first page of every rent book.
(3) The rent book shall remain in the custody of the
tenant, but it shall be delivered up by him to the landlord or
his agent for such time as is necessary for the making of
entries therein by the landlord or his agent who shall make
such entries and forthwith re-deliver the rent book to the
tenant.
(4) The landlord or his agent shall, at the time of
every payment of money for or on account of rent, enter in
the rent book every sum of money so paid to him.
(5) The landlord shall provide in the said rent book
a number of blank pages, the first of which shall be headed
“Notices” for the purpose of enabling notices affecting the
tenancy to be given by the landlord or the tenant, and every
landlord or his agent on the one hand or tenant on the other
shall, on the first occasion on which the rent book comes into
his possession after the insertion therein of any notice by the
other, put his signature immediately below that notice in
acknowledgment of the fact that he has seen that notice.
60. (1) No landlord or agent shall, during the
subsistence of any tenancy, remove the roof, window,
door, or any other part of a tenement without the consent
of the tenant or otherwise than in the execution of any duty to
repair the buildings, and every landlord or agent who
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Offences and
penalties.
[6 of 1997]
violates the provisions of this section shall be liable on
summary conviction to a fine of thirty-two thousand five
hundred dollars.
(2) Any damages sustained by the tenant by reason
of a violation of subsection (1) may, with the consent of the
tenant, be assessed by the magistrate at the hearing of the
criminal proceedings against the landlord or the agent and
the magistrate may order such damages to be paid to the
tenant out of the penalty imposed upon the landlord or agent
in those proceedings.
(3) Nothing in this section shall take away or in
any way prejudice the right of action accruing to a tenant by
reason of any such wrongful act by or on the part of a
landlord or his agent or on account of any disturbance of the
peaceful enjoyment by the tenant of the tenement, so,
however, that the tenant shall not be entitled both to damages
under subsection (2) and to damages in an action at law.
61. (1) Every landlord or agent who commits a breach
of sections 58 and 59 in any respect whatever or fails to
comply with any of the provisions of those sections shall be
guilty of an offence.
(2) (a) Every tenant who wilfully
damages or fouls any tenement;
and
(b) every person who after the
determination of his tenancy and
with respect to any building
formerly in his possession as tenant
wilfully damages any land or
building or maliciously carries away
or disposes of any door key or other
part of such building, shall be guilty
of an offence.
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Use of forms.
First Schedule.
Fees and costs.
Second
Schedule.
c. 3:05.
(3) Every person who, with intent to defraud—
(a) makes any false entry in a rent book;
or
(b) extracts from a rent book any
page thereof, or obliterates or
obscures any writing or entry made
therein by a landlord or his agent or
a tenant; or
(c) destroys or mutilates a rent book,
shall be guilty of an offence.
(4) Every person who assaults or obstructs any
constable, bailiff or other person in the execution of any duty
under this Act shall be guilty of an offence.
(5) Every person guilty of an offence under this
Act for which no special penalty is provided shall be liable on
summary conviction to a fine of sixteen thousand two
hundred and fifty dollars or to imprisonment for three
months.
62. The forms contained in the First Schedule shall be
deemed and held to be forms under and for the purposes of
this Act, and wherever any of those forms is not appropriate
to the facts and circumstances of the case, then any other form
adapted to those facts and circumstances shall be deemed and
held to be sufficient.
63. The fees and costs set forth in the Second
Schedule may be demanded and taken in respect of the
several matters therein mentioned, and the Summary
Jurisdiction (Magistrates) Act shall apply to those fees and
costs as if they were fees and costs payable under that Act.

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s. 62
[4 of 1972]
____________________
FIRST SCHEDULE
FORMS
FORM 1
Warrant of Distress
.......................Magisterial District
To E.F., of.............................................................
A.B. of............................ in the county of ............................
having laid before me his claim which he holds against C.D.
for the sum of ................................ for rent, with the particulars
thereof, and duly sworn, I do hereby authorise you the said
E.F., to enter on the premises on which the said rent is due, in
the daytime, between the hours of nine in the morning and
four in the afternoon, and, in the presence of the said A.B. or
his agent, and under his direction, to distrain, subject to the
provisions of the Landlord and Tenant Act, the goods and
chattels except the wearing apparel and bedding of C.D. and
his family, and (to the value of one hundred dollars) the tools
and implements of his trade in the premises (or as the case
may be) which he holds of A.B., in the county aforesaid, for
................ amount of rent due to him for the said premises on
the ...............day of ...................... last past; and for your so
doing, this shall be a sufficient warrant.
Dated this ..................day of ........................... 20......
(Signed) J.C................................................. Magistrate, ..............Magisterial District
_________

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FORM 2
Inventory of Goods Distrained
An inventory of the several goods and chattels distrained
by me whose name is under-written, the ..................day
of..........................20........., in the premises of C.D., situate at
............................ ..in the county of .....................................by the
authority and on the behalf of A.B., of .........................for
..................amount of rent due to him, the said A.B.
In the dwelling house—one table, six chairs.
In the out-houses—a washing tub.
__________
FORM 3
Application before a magistrate, where goods are
being fraudulently removed, or secured in a dwelling-house
to prevent them from being taken as a distress for rent.
A.B., of ...............................,... makes oath that certain
goods and chattels of C.D., of .................................... have,
within thirty days last past, been fraudulently or
clandestinely carried off a certain tenement let by the said
A.B. to the said C.D., to wit ..............................situate at
............................... in the aforesaid Magisterial district, by the
said C.D., his servant or servants, agent or agents, or other
person or persons aiding or assisting therein, to prevent the
said landlord from distraining the said goods and chattels for
amount of rent due to the said A.B., for the said ........ ; and
that the said A.B. has reasonable ground to suspect, and does
suspect, that the said goods and chattels are in the place
hereunder described, namely, .......................................................
(Signed)A.B.......................................................
Sworn before me this ........................... day of ..................20 ..........

(Signed)..........................................
Magistrate, ...................Magisterial District
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________
FORM 4
Warrant to follow and search for goods fraudulently removed
to prevent distress.
...................................Magisterial District.
To E.F., of......................................
Whereas A.B., of ............................... has this .........................
day of ....................... 20........, made oath before me, magistrate
for the..............................Magisterial district, that certain goods
and chattels of C.D., have within 30 days last past, been
fraudulently or clandestinely carried off a certain tenement
let by the said A.B. to the said C.D., to wit ..................situate
at..................... in ................... the aforesaid Magisterial district,
to prevent the landlord from distraining the same for rent in
arrear; and that the said A.B. has reasonable ground to
suspect, and does suspect, that the said goods and chattels are
in the place hereunder described, namely,
.....................................................
This is therefore to authorise you the said E.F. with such
assistance
as may be necessary, to enter on the aforesaid place, in the
day-time between the hours of nine in the morning and four
in the afternoon, and in the presence of A.B. or his agent and
under his direction, to distrain, subject to the provisions of the
Landlord and Tenant Act, the goods and chattels of the said
C.D. found in the place as aforesaid within the space of thirty
days next ensuing their carrying off as aforesaid, for..............
the amount of rent due to the said A.B. by the said C.D. for
the tenement hereinbefore described; and for your so doing,
this shall be a sufficient warrant.
Dated this .............day of.........................20.........
(Signed)......................................
Magistrate, ..................Magisterial District
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________
FORM 5
Appraisement
The appraisement may be in the form of the inventory,
specifying the particulars and their respective valuation, and
then add at the end, “Appraised by us this............day of
.................20........”
(Signed)
G.H.......................................

J.K........................................
Appraisers
________
FORM 6
Act of Deposit
................................Magisterial District.
Know all men by these presents that I, C.D., ............................of
........................... have this day deposited with .............................
the magistrate of the .........................Magisterial district, the
sum of………............... dollars and five dollars, upon the
following conditions, that is to say that if I, the said C.D., do
appear at the next sitting of the ..............................................and
do then and there prosecute my suit with effect and without
delay against A.B., for the taking and unjustly detaining my
goods and chattels, to wit (here describe the goods and
chattels) and do make return of the said goods and chattels, if
a return hereof is adjudged, then this present act of deposit
and obligation to be void and of no force; otherwise to stand
and remain in full force, vigour and effect.
Dated this.............day of........................20 ............
(Signed)
C.D......................................
Witness—
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(Signed) L.M....................................
______
FORM 7
Warrant of Ejectment
...............................Magisterial District.
To................................ of ............................... and all other
constables and bailiffs.
Whereas (set forth the judgment), I, the undersigned
magistrate for the ......................district, do authorise and
command you, on any day within .................days from the
date thereof, except on Sunday, Christmas Day, and Good
Friday, between the hours of nine in the morning and four in
the afternoon, to enter (by force, if necessary), and with or
without the aid of the owner (or agent of the owner as the
case may be), or any other person or persons whom you may
think requisite to call to your assistance, into and upon the
said tenement, and to eject there out any person, and of the
said tenement full and peaceable possession to deliver to the
said.............. the owner (or agent of the owner, as the case may
be).
Dated this................day of ............................20.........
(Signed)................................................
Magistrate,....................Magisterial District
________
FORM 8
Consent for Distrainer to Continue in Possession
(Not liable to stamp duty)
I, C.D., do hereby request that A.B., my landlord, who, on
the ....... day of ......................19 .........., distrained my goods
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s. 63
[O. 23 of 1986]
and chattels on my premises
at...........................................................in the county
of...................................... will forbear the sale thereof until the
........................................ day of.................................20...... , in
order to enable me to discharge my said rent; and I do
consent that the said goods and chattels so distrained may
remain at my proper cost, and in his possession, upon the
premises where they now are until that time, and I undertake
not to replevy the said goods and chattels.
Dated this.......................day of.............................20........
(Signed) C.D..................................
Witness—
(Signed)
L.M....................................
________
SECOND SCHEDULE
TABLE OF FEES AND COSTS
$ c.
1. For drawing and preparing claim for recovery
of rent or plaint for possession …. …. ….. 325.00
2. For preparing warrant of distress including
levy… … … … … 325.00
3. For preparing complaint when goods
fraudulently or clandestinely removed …. 325.00
4. For warrant thereon…. …. …. 325.00
5. For filing action for the recovery of possession
of Tenement…. …. …. …. 325.00
6. For warrant of ejectment …. …. 325.00
7. For removal of property — the reasonable
expenses actually incurred and paid… …
8. For appraisement a sum not exceeding…. 1,625.00
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