On 31 May 2018 the Nicosia Rent Control Court ruled on the outstanding rents of a statutory tenant.

The contract for tenancy covered the whole duration of the tenancy period from 1 February 2008 to 30 September 2018. The agreed rent to be paid for the entire tenancy was €745,160, payable on a monthly basis with the amount increasing as follows:

  • Year 1 – €4,050 per month;
  • Year 2 – €4,300 per month;
  • Years 3 and 4 – €4,300 per month;
  • Years 5 and 6 – €5,585 per month;
  • Years 7 and 8 – €6,370 per month;
  • Years 9 and 10 – €7,260 per month; and
  • the final period – €8,275 per month.

The court ruled that the landlord terminated the tenancy agreement with a termination letter dated 28 January 2014. As the conditions of the Rent Control Law L23/83 were satisfied, the contractual tenancy became a statutory tenancy, one of the conditions being the termination or expiry of the contractual tenancy.

In its ruling, the court stated that, based on existing case law, a provision for the increase of rent which is provided for in a tenancy agreement does not apply once the tenancy is converted into a statutory tenancy. However, by interpreting the terms of the agreement (which was terminated in this case), the court concluded that the tenancy agreement did not provide for an increase in rent during the first tenancy period. The amount of periodic payments varied from time to time but, according to the court, this was not a conventional rent increase and would not be applicable during the statutory tenancy.

In view of this, the court concluded that the amounts owed by the statutory tenants were those determined by the tenancy agreement until the end of the tenants' occupation of the property.

For further information on this topic please contact George Ioannou or Alex Themis at George Z Georgiou & Associates LLC by telephone (+357 22 763 340) or email ([email protected] or [email protected]). The George Z Georgiou & Associates LLC website can be accessed at www.gzg.com.cy.

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