If you live in Uganda and are a tenant you should then know that your democracy is not extended to your landlord, most of them draft non-negotiable contracts, change the rules of tenancy without notice and also increase the rent as they see fit. This has previously had no implications because you’re allowed to vacate if you feel aggrieved. However, the enactment of the 2022 landlord and tenant Act has struck a balance and now let’s take a look at some of the things in this law.
First and foremost it is important to know that this Act does not apply to all types of tenancy as it provides exceptions to residences of both private and public institutions that provide directly or indirectly medical, religious, educational, recreational or similar services, residences provided under employment, hotel, motel and transit lodging.
This law makes Tenancy agreements negotiable, previously most tenants would just sign what the landlord has written but now both parties have to negotiate on the terms of the contract.
When it comes to the responsibilities of maintaining premises, the Act explicitly defines who repairs and cleans what, it is now clear that the duty of the landlord is to do reasonable repairs on the house like water, electricity laundry machines, gas and other broken fixtures whose damage hasn’t been caused by the tenant and if the landlord neglects to do such repairs, then the tenants shall do them at the cost of the landlord. Where the landlord fails to reimburse the tenant, the tenant is allowed to deduct the expenses incurred from the rent to be paid to the landlord as a form of reimbursement.
It is also the duty of the landlord to clean and repair the common areas of the premises while the tenant is responsible to repair any ware and tire that is caused by his or her own actions.
Then when we get to the ever-pressing matters of security deposits, this act provided a forever remedy. First and foremost the landlord shall not ask a tenant for a security deposit that is more than one month of rent. Then the security deposit shall not be withheld for merely reasonable wear and tire arising out of the normal use of the premises, this means that the days of landlords staying with security deposits claiming that it is for repainting the house are behind us.
You cannot talk about the security deposit and not follow it up with rent. It is common knowledge in most urban suburbs in Uganda, people with commercial houses tend to require many months of deposits before or during the use of the premises but the Act limits advance payment to only three months.
The other pressing issue addressed is rent increase. The new law expressly forbids an increase of rent that is more the 10% per annum and for fixed-term tenancy, the rent shall not be increased before the existing term ends.
If a person fails to pay rent then the landlord shall have a right to repossess their property without necessarily getting an order from the court and then recover rent through the small claims procedure which is simple and doesn’t need legal representation.
The Act also puts the obligation of payment of taxes concerning the property on the landlord and also the responsibility of ensuring that the tenants enjoy quiet possession of the property for as long as their tenancy contract is still in existence.
The Act discusses the different ways in which the tenancy and landlord relationship can be ended and it also gives solutions to the wrongful termination of the relationship like payment of inconvenience caused and even re-instituting the contract.
The thing is you are not allowed to just throughout a tenant and neither can a tenant just abandon the contract.
In my analysis, the Act brings about a balanced relationship between Tenants and Landlords.
Writer: Lauryn kutekereza a Legal Adviser at Rentos Systems.
