Rent (Control) Law Amendment Assists Landlords Faced With Defaulting Tenants

'Fileleftheros' newspaper has recently published an article by Marina Vassiliou, Associate of Elias Neocleous & Co LLC.  The article examines the key changes wrought by the Rent (Control)(Amended) Law of 2020 which entered into force on 31 January 2020. She notes that the chief effect of the legislation should be to provide proper redress for landlords faced with tenants who consistently and unjustifiably refuse to pay their rent.  Previously a landlord faced with a tenant who failed to pay his rent within 21 due days of the due date could file an application with the Court for recovery of his property.  Unfortunately, however, the landlord might have to wait several years before his application was heard and in that period the tenant could continue to reside in the property rent free if they had filed a defence to the application.  It was common in such defences to claim that the rent had been paid even though no evidence was supplied.