Rent Restriction Act

RENT RESTRICTION ACT. ARRANGEMENT OF SECTIONS. Section 1. Interpretation. 2. Rent not to exceed standard rent. 3. Establishment, powers and procedure of boards. 4. Appeals from decisions of board. 5. Parties who may appear in proceedings. 6. Restriction on ejectment of tenant by landlord. 7. Furnished dwelling houses and premises. 8. Act not to apply to urban market authority. 9. Boards may in certain circumstances vary standard rent. 10. Exempted premises and power to exempt classes of dwelling house or premises. 11. Power to suspend Act or to allow increase of rent. 12. Rules. 13. Saving of rights of the Government. Schedule Premises exempt from Act. CHAPTER 231 RENT RESTRICTION ACT. Commencement : 1 January, 1949. An Act to consolidate the law relating to the control of rents of dwelling houses and business premises. 1. Interpretation.

ncement : 1 January, 1949. An Act to consolidate the law relating to the control of rents of dwelling houses and business premises. 1. Interpretation.

In this Act— ( a ) "board" means a rent board appointed under section 3; ( b ) "capital cost" of a dwelling house or premises means the cost of building the dwelling house or premises if in the opinion of the competent board that cost is reasonable in view of prices and wages prevailing at the time of the erection of the dwelling house or premises; if the board considers such cost is not reasonable then the capital cost shall be an amount which the board considers reasonable in all the circumstances of the case; ( c ) "dwelling house" means any building or part of a building let for human habitation as a separate dwelling where the letting does not include any land other than the site of the dwelling house or the garden or other land within the curtilage of the dwelling house; ( d ) "premises" means any building or part of a building let for business, trade, or professional purposes or for the public service, but shall not include any land other than the site of the premises or land within the curtilage of the premises; ( e ) "standard rent" means— (i) in the case of a dwelling house or premises which were occupied by a tenant on and prior to the 1st"> January, 1942, the rent at which the dwelling house or premises were let on that date; (ii) in the case of a dwelling house or premises occupied by a tenant or the landlord prior to the 1st ">January, 1942, but not occupied by a tenant on that date, such rent as a competent board may determine having regard to the standard rent of similar dwelling houses or premises in the neighbourhood; (iii) in the case of a dwelling house or premises first occupied after the 1st"> January, 1942, such rent as may be fixed by a competent board which in fixing the rent shall take into account the capital value of the site, as assessed by the commissioner of lands and surveys, and the capital cost of the dwelling house or premises but in no case shall the gross rent exceed 10 percent of the capital cost of the building plus 5 percent of the capital value of the site, except that subject to any right of appeal and to section 9(2), the standard rent of a dwelling house or premises shall not be varied after it has been fixed by a competent board whether or not the rent was fixed before or after the commencement of this Act; ( f ) "tenant" includes— (i) the widow of a tenant residing with him at the time of his death, or, when a tenant dying leaves no widow or is a woman, such member of the tenant's family residing with the tenant at the time of the tenant's death as may be decided in default of agreement by the competent board; and (ii) any limited liability company, partnership or other corporate body that is a tenant.

decided in default of agreement by the competent board; and (ii) any limited liability company, partnership or other corporate body that is a tenant.

2. Rent not to exceed standard rent. (1) No owner or lessee of a dwelling house or premises shall let or sublet that dwelling house or premises at a rent which exceeds the standard rent. (2) Any person, whether the owner of the property or not, who in consideration of the letting or subletting of a dwelling house or premises to a person asks for, solicits or receives any sum of money other than rent or any thing of value whether the asking, soliciting or receiving is made before or after the grant of a tenancy commits an offence and is liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding 10,000 shillings or to imprisonment not exceeding six months or to both such fine and imprisonment; except that a person acting bona fide as an agent for either party to an intended tenancy agreement shall be entitled to a reasonable commission for his or her services. (3) Any person who makes it a term of any agreement to let or sublet any dwelling house or premises that more than six months rent should be paid in advance shall be deemed to commit an offence under subsection (2) and is liable on conviction to the same penalties as a person guilty of an offence under that subsection.

ed to commit an offence under subsection (2) and is liable on conviction to the same penalties as a person guilty of an offence under that subsection.

(4) Where any person is charged with an offence under subsection (2), the court may consider any other transaction of the person charged; and if the court is satisfied that such other transaction was not bona fide but that it was in fact part of the transaction in relation to the granting of the tenancy, it may take that other transaction into account when considering the evidence in respect of the charge under subsection (2). (5) Notwithstanding any rule of law or of practice to the contrary, in any prosecution for an offence under this section no person shall be d This section of the article is only available for our subscribers. Please click here to subscribe to a subscription plan to view this part of the article. Home | About Us |--> Terms & Conditions | Privacy Statement | Publishing Services | Contact Us Sitemap --> --> Copyright 2019. Blackhall Publishing. All Rights Reserved. Design and Developed By : Indiafin Technologies Ltd .