CHIBANDA v MUSUMHIRI & ANOR 1999 (2) ZLR 50 (H)

Flynote

Landlord and tenant — lease — statutory tenant — eviction of — may not be ordered unless there is certificate from Rent Board — Rent Regulations 1982 — desirability of reviewing the regulations

Headnote

Part IV of the Rent Regulations 1982 (SI 626 of 1982) lays down restrictions on the ejectment of tenants who have become statutory tenants. Section 30(2) of the regulations provides that no eviction order may be ordered by a court so long as the lessee continues to pay the rent due within seven days of the due date and performs the other conditions of the lease.

▷ Section 30(4) requires the lessor wishing to eject the lessee to apply for a certificate stating that it is fair and reasonable for the lessee to be evicted. The court thus may not order the eviction of a person who has become a statutory tenant unless a certificate has been obtained by the landlord from the rent board stating that it is fair and reasonable that the tenant be required to vacate. This ties the hands of the court and ousts its jurisdiction in this regard; the court cannot order the eviction of the lessee even if it considers that justice requires this course of action.

ε Per curiam: These regulations should be reviewed. They were passed at a time when there was a command economy and protectionism was the main government policy. In recent years, the Socio-economic situation had changed drastically and the free market policies were now being applied. The regulations allow the State to interfere in the relations between lessor and lessee and virtually exclude the courts from adjudicating on matters such as the eviction of the tenant. They interfere with freedom of parties to agree on the terms of contracts and disallow market forces to operate to control levels of rentals. The provisions of the regulations virtually compel the landlord to continue renting his property to a tenant he does not want and may well be in conflict with the constitutional right to utilise one's property as one chooses, subject to the rights of others.

In the present case, after the tenant had become a statutory tenant, it had failed to pay the rent timeously and had ceased to be a statutory tenant when it had failed to give the lessor written notice to renew the tenancy before the end of the period of twelve months. On this basis, the tenant was no longer entitled to remain in the premises and the court had jurisdiction to grant the applicant at least part of the relief she was seeking.