PROCEDURES FOR EVICTING A TENANT FOR FAILURE TO PAY RENT

PROCEDURES FOR EVICTING A TENANT FOR FAILURE TO PAY RENT

A case story:

A company is a real estate business company, does build and leases apartments to prospective tenants. And the major of the tenants are foreigners. ?Around February 2019 before corona outbreak, one apartment-occupying tenant left to go abroad, and since then, he has not returned despite some constant emails and follow-ups. The company is looking for the best procedure for eviction so the property could be left to another prospective tenant and recover the rental arrears.

Response from FB: Attorney, Tanzania

Failure to pay rent for over a month constitutes a serious breach of the lease agreement in terms of sections 101(1), 103(1), and 104(1) of the Land Act [Cap.113 R.E 2019] warranting a termination of the lease agreement. There are two ways the landlord or property manager can use to evict the tenant for failure to pay rent him. The quickest way is for the landlord or property manager to serve a notice of intention to terminate the lease agreement to the tenant under section 104 of the Land Act. Section 104(2) outlines the mandatory contents of the notice of termination namely, stating the total amount of rent the tenant owes the landlord or property manager; the amount of rent that must be paid to settle the claim; the period, being not less than 30 days from the date of service of notice within which the rental arrears must be paid and the statement that in case the rental arrears are not paid within the given period of 30 days, the lease shall terminate without further notice.

Where the defaulting lessee for some reason cannot be served physically or by registered post with notice of termination, section 106(5) of the Land Act allows the landlord to use an alternative service. The alternative service can be done by affixing a copy of the notice in a conspicuous place on the leased house or at the offices of the local authority having jurisdiction in the area where the leased house is located or by the publication of the notice in one or more of the newspapers circulating in Tanzania.

After service of the notice, the landlord or property manager may, where it is safe to evict peacefully, evict the defaulting tenant through a Court or tribunal broker. This is the fastest way to evict someone. Where it is impossible to evict peacefully, the landlord must institute the proceedings in a land Court (in Tanzania) with competent jurisdiction to obtain an eviction order from the Court.

Another way of evicting the defaulting tenant is by commencing an action in a land Court with competent jurisdiction against the tenant for recovery of the arrears of rent and praying for eviction from the premises or specific performance of the contract under section 109 of the Land Act. Where this route is taken, the landlord or property manager is not allowed to evict the tenant until the conclusion of the proceedings and if there is an appeal until the appeal is decided.?

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