New rent law provides eviction process within 35 days

Parliament is set to approve an amendment to the rent control law on Friday that makes it easier for landlords to evict tenants who fall into arrears or deliberately don’t pay their dues.

The House is to vote on a bill which will reform the law regulating out-of-court settlements in disputes over property rental agreements.

The bill, tabled by DISY MPs Nikos Nouris, George Georgiou, Efthymios Diplaros and Marios Mavrides, is expected to resolve cases, in which tenants do not keep their side of the agreement, in a matter of months, rather than years.

The law will not be retrospective or have affect over cases which are currently in a court of law.

According to the head of the House Legal Committee George Georgiou, “tenants who deliberately do not pay their rents will no longer be able to remain on the property indefinitely without facing legal consequences”.

AKEL MP Aristos Damianou explained that with the proposed law, the landlord has the right to begin the eviction process even if the tenant has just one rent payment delayed for more than 21 days.

“After the landlord files his case, tenants will have 14 days to pay their debts in order to terminate the eviction process.

Otherwise, the judge will rule to issue an eviction order within 24 hours. Once the decree is issued the tenant will then have 90 days to deliver the property to the landlord,” said Damianou.

DIKO MP Christiana Erotokritou said the current state of affairs allows people to live on someone else’s property without paying their dues.

“The new law will also compel tenants to ask for receipts, thus contributing to the fight against tax evasion,” she said.

Erotokritou welcomed the fact that the new law will foresee eviction notices being delivered electronically.