You have a house, you rent it to somebody, and that somebody defaulted in paying his monthly rental to you. What options do you have as a landlord?
Force him (the tenant) out of the house or Lock the house gate so that he cannot enter until he pay you?
As a landlord, it might sound like you have absolute power to do anything as the house belongs to you. HOWEVER, do you remember that when you chose to rent out your house to him, both of you have entered into a Tenancy Agreement? Do you remember where you keep that agreement? Do you remember the contents of the Agreement?
Well, that agreement is not just papers. It consists of the do’s and the don’ts for you and your tenant. It specifies your rights as a landlord, his rights as a tenant and in what manner should an issue be resolved in the event your tenant or you yourself, breach the agreement. The agreement is binding on you and him.
In other words, NO, you can’t simply do anything towards your tenant if he doesn’t pay his rental without a Court Order. This has been specified in Section 7(2) of the Specific Relief Act 1950. So what are the rights you have as a landlord? Is the law too cruel to let you be prejudiced by the irresponsible behaviour of your tenant? Absolutely not. Now sit back and let us enlighten you on your rights as landlord.
As a landlord, you have two options; whether to terminate the said Tenancy Agreement and reclaim the possession of your premise OR you can choose to continue with the tenancy but your tenant must pay the outstanding rental to you anyhow.
If you choose option no. 1, a notice of termination must be issued to your tenant stating clearly that you wish to terminate the tenancy agreement and that your tenant needs to vacate the premise and deliver its vacant possession within a prescribed time. Failure of your tenant to comply to the said notice of termination will give rise to the commencement of legal proceeding. You can file summon to evict your tenant, claim for the outstanding & double rental and repossess your premise. Once the Order has been obtained, make a police report, evict your tenant and repossess your premise in the presence of the police officer.
If you choose option no. 2, issue a notice of demand against your tenant to demand the payment of the said outstanding rental within a prescribed time. Should your tenant still refuse to make the required payment to you, you can choose to commence a distress action. Distress action is an action whereby you make an application to court for an Order to enter into your premise, get court officer to seize your tenant’s moveable properties and sell them through public auction in order to recover the outstanding rental. This however will not cause the tenancy to end and it shall continue as per agreed in the Tenancy Agreement.
Nevertheless, whichever options you prefer, you need to always refer to your Tenancy Agreement in order to ensure that you would not be acting in contrary to what have been agreed upon by your tenant and yourself.