Can my landlady eject me?
DEAR Mirror Lawyer, I rented a three-bedroom house at Madina, a suburb of Accra, for three years and paid all three years' rent in advance.
Two months to the end of the three years, the landlady wrote to me that at the expiration of the tenancy, her cousin would come and occupy the house so I should move out by 8 a.m. on the anniversary otherwise she would come and forcefully eject me from the premises.
Mirror lawyer, do I not have any rights to opt for a renewal of the tenancy?
Thaddeus Amoah,
Madina, Accra.
Dear Amoah, Ordinarily when parties to an agreement sign a contract it ought to be respected to the letter and the courts will enforce it unless it can be established that the parties have a contrary intention.
In Ghana, however, agreements relating to landlord and tenant are governed by the Rent Act of 1963, Act 220. All agreements, therefore, for the renting of residential and business premises are governed by the provisions of the Rent Act.
Under the Rent Act, when a tenant’s tenancy comes to an end and the parties understand for the tenant to move quietly and hand over the premises, no dispute is likely to occur.
However, if the tenant requests that the landlady grant him or her an extension and the landlady refuses to agree, then the parties will have a problem which must be resolved according to the provisions of the Rent Act.
The Act says when your tenancy expires or the rent you paid is exhausted, the landlady cannot forcefully eject you from the premises. In such situations, the law grants you protection from being thrown out onto the streets by your landlady.
Your position is known in law as a statutory tenant. A statutory tenant is a tenant who remains in possession of the rented premises after the expiration of the tenancy and cannot be ejected by the landlady except by an order of the court.
Your landlady, by this protection that the law grants to you, cannot wilfully and forcefully eject you from the house like he has threatened to do.
To be able to do that, your landlady would need an order from the court. This order, however, is not easily granted. Your landlady would have to prove certain conditions in addition to the fact that your tenancy has expired.
Your landlady must demonstrate to the court that she reasonably requires the premises for her occupation, by a member of her family or by a worker in her full-time employment.
A member of her family could be her husband, father or mother, child, brother or sister.
In the case of workers, there must be evidence that the landlady provides accommodation for her employees as part of their terms of employment so that the provision is not abused by the landlady pretending to be in need of the premises to give to her workers to eject tenants.
Since the cousin of your landlady is not classified for the Rent Act as a member of her family, an order to eject you from the house to enable the cousin to come and occupy the premises cannot be granted by the court.
Also, in your circumstances, you would have to show that greater hardship would be caused to you since you do not have the means available to relocate.
The Act provides punishment for anyone who contravenes any provision of the law. It states that a person shall be guilty of an offence and shall upon conviction by the court be liable to a fine or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding six months or to both fine and imprisonment.
