Amendments to the Rent Control Law
Tenants who fail to pay relevant rent are protected by the Rent Control Law 23 of 1983 (the “Law”). Due to procedures and delays with our court system and other legal hurdles under the Law, it has been difficult for a landlord to evict a tenant.
Since 31 of January 2020, the Law was amended so that landlords can apply for eviction of a tenant, and it is up to the tenant to prove that (s)he has been paying rent and should not be evicted. If eviction is ordered, the tenant will have 90 days to leave the rented premises.
More details in relation to the amendments to the Law are as follows:
Tenants can defend themselves in an application for eviction made by a landlord, by filing a reply with the court registrar accompanied by (i) a receipt of payment by the court’s accounting department that shows payment of the outstanding amount submitted to the court, or (ii) a receipt of payment of the outstanding amount issued by the landlord, or (iii) a receipt of transfer or deposit of the outstanding amount from a bank.
Within three working days from the above, the court registrar’s decision will be taken before the court the decision of which on the matter will be final and not subject to appeal. The court can order the recovery of possession of the property to take place 90 or more days after the date of the order.
With respect to service of the notice by the landlord, a landlord can serve an eviction notice to a tenant using private service, electronic service (e.g. email) and substituted service. Service out of the jurisdiction of Cyprus is also available in accordance with the relevant regulations, treaties and laws applicable.
The above amendments do not apply to applications that have been filed before 31 January 2020 neither to rent payments that became due prior to the such date, provided that such outstanding payments will be repaid by 31 January 2021.
