[2000]DLCA6535 • July 27, 2000 • Court of Appeal
MRS. BANNERMAN QUIST & 1 OR vs. MICHAEL AGBOTUI SOUSSOUDIS
The plaintiffs, landlords, sought to recover rent arrears and an increase in rent from the defendant tenant who had failed to pay rent since the expiry of the tenancy agreement in 1995. The defendant also counterclaimed for reimbursement of expenses incurred in reconstructing a collapsed fence wall on the premises without the plaintiffs' consent.
read moreBENIN, J.A.: I would like to preface this decision with a few comments on landlord-tenant relationship in this country. The problem of landlord-tenant relations is one of the most frequently recurring matters that the law and society have still not succeeded in grappling with effectively. That is the position notwithstanding various enactment’s’ put in place, at one time or the other; some ad hoc only, others die out like a passing wind. In the face of all these difficulties and uncertainties in this area of law enforcement, one enactment, namely, the Rent Act, 1963 (Act 220), has stood the test of time, not withstanding the different and sometimes conflicting interpretations given to its various provisions. The very fact that this particular enactment, together with its regulations, namely, Rent Regulations, 1964 (L.I. 369), have survived even the revolutionary rent laws in the evening of the 1970’s and the early 1980’s is a sure indication that their provisions have come to...