Landlords and Tenants – Rent Commission

Attention Landlords

Landlords of premises subject to rent control who wish to serve a tenant a Notice-to-Quit or increase the rent of a dwelling, must follow the procedures set out under the Rent Increases (Domestic Premises) control Act 1978.

Rent Commission

The Rent Commission is the Island’s residential tenant protection agency and is charged with the responsibility for administrating the Rent Increases (Domestic Promises) Control Act 1978.

The primary purpose of the Act is to provide tenants with security of tenure and to regulate rent increase on tenancies of residential premises.

At present, a single tenancy of a premise is subject to the provisions of the Act if the Annual Rental Value (ARV) of the premise as determined by the 2009 Valuation List is ,000 or less.

The ARV of a premise can be found at www.landvaluation.bm or on the Valuation List on display at all post offices.

The purpose of the Rent Increases (Domestic Premises) Control Act 1978 is twofold:

• To provide tenants with security. That is, the law requires a landlord to show that he has a lawful ground for terminating a tenancy and to prove in a court, if necessary, the “just cause” for serving a tenant a notice-to-quit.
• To control increases in rent. That is the law requires that every rent increase on a tenancy of a dwelling subject to rent control be first approved by the Rent Commissioner before being charged to a tenant.

Services provided by the Rent Commission include:

• Educating the public on the rights and responsibilities of landlords and tenants
• Providing information on rent controlled premises
• Processing and adjudicating rent increase applications
• Inspecting rental premises upon receipt of a rent increase application
• Endorsing and registering rent increase agreement notices
• Reviewing individual rent increase objections in consultation with the Rent increases Advisory Panel
• Resolving rental disputes
• Investigating allegations of rent overcharging
• Hearing and ruling on undesirable tenant cases

Know the Real Estate language

Amortisation period: the time required to reduce a debt to zero when payment are made regularly.

Appraisal: a process whereby the value of a property is determined.

Bridging loan: interim financing.

Collateral: security pledged as a guarantee for the repayment of a loan.

Condominium: as increasingly popular type of home ownership where the purchaser has full and sole use of a housing unit while sharing ownership of the land and buildings.

Conveyance: the transfer of property from one owner to another.

Closing date: in most cases, the date on which the sale of a property becomes final and the new owner takes possession.

Default: failure to abide by the terms of a mortgage loan agreement.

Easement: a right granted for access to a particular part of your property

Equity: the difference between the price for which a home could be sold and the total debts registered against that home.

Foreclosure: legal procedure whereby the lender obtains ownership of the property following default by the borrower.

Interest: what the lender charges you for the use of its money.

Mortgage: a document providing your personal guarantee to repay the loan as well as a pledge of the property as security for that loan.

Principal: the amount of money actually borrowed.

Sales agreement: a written contract setting out the terms under which the buyer agrees to buy.

Title (freehold): evidence of ownership of land and building for an indefinite period of time.

Title (lease hold): evidence of a right to use and occupy land and buildings for a specific period of time. The actual ownership of the land and perhaps also the building remain with the landlord.

Title search: a search to confirm the owners of a property do in fact own it.

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