Succession of a statutory tenant

"Statutory tenant’s status can be acquired by the tenant's surviving spouse or child"

A statutory tenancy being governed by the law is related to the premises, presupposes a tenancy and is personal connected with the right of the statutory tenant to remain in possession and not to be evicted as long as the provisions of the Rent Control Law are met. The aforesaid right derives from the law and can be acquired by the surviving spouse or child of the tenant, provided they resided or worked at the premises at the time of the tenant’s death. This status and personal right may be acquired, but not the obligations of the tenant which cannot be transferred upon the surviving spouse or child.

The obligation for the payment of rents in arrear of the deceased tenant is not transferred upon the surviving spouse or child because they remain in the demised premises, but it continues to be a personal obligation of the tenant and payment can be claimed from his representative – administrator of his estate. The surviving spouse or child who remains in the premises or works there becomes a statutory tenant under the law and the obligation to pay the rent arises thereafter. The landlord, to whom the deceased tenant owes rents, is not entitled to claim them from the surviving spouse or child and apply for their eviction from the premises. Such a claim will be dismissed.

A question arises in the case of a statutory tenant who has died while proceedings are pending against him before the Court to recover possession of the property, whether the actionable right survives, whether there is now a tenant and by extension a statutory tenancy and whether the Rent Control Court has jurisdiction to issue a decision. The President of the Nicosia Rent Control Court, in his decision issued on 04.01.2024, examined this question and whether the procedure had become pointless.

In particular, according to the decision, the owner claimed recovery of possession of the house and the reason for eviction was the alleged systematic delay in the payment of the rent. The statutory tenant who was an elderly person with serious health problems claimed that the landlord was refusing to collect the rent and that he was acting in bad faith. The case proceeded on the basis of the speedy trial procedure, the written testimonies were filed, there was cross-examination of the affiants and the decision was reserved. In the meantime, before the decision was issued, the statutory tenant died. The Court was informed of the unfortunate event and within the framework of its duty and obligation to review its jurisdiction voluntarily and autonomously, it reopened the case and summoned the parties, raising the question of whether the eviction application has lost its object.

The Court held, the issue must be faced that the issuance of a Court order requires the existence of an actionable right and that there are actionable rights that survive the death of the party and others that do not. The present case to be decided, belongs, unequivocally, to the second case. The Rent Control Court deals exclusively with statutory tenancies, as well as anything incidental and/or supplementary to them. A constituent element of the statutory tenancy, as the Court stated, is the "tenant", a concept defined in article 2 of the Law. It is common ground in the present case that the respondent, before she passed away, had become a statutory tenant herself, precisely because her husband's death had preceded her. Today, having passed away herself, the question that arises is whether there is still a "tenant". The answer is clearly no.

According to the Court’s decision, in the particular case only the respondent was defined as the statutory tenant and in the reply, it is not claimed through a counterclaim to recognize the existence of another statutory tenant, besides the deceased. Nor was it requested that another necessary party be added to the proceedings. What is protected based on article 2 of the Law is the case where the death of the statutory tenant occurs, leaving a spouse and/or children permanently residing in the property. This is a completely reasonable provision in a legislation of a social nature. Which, however, is neither directly transferred, nor inherited, nor does it create a right of use.

It decided further, that the final conclusion of the Court as a result of the death of the respondent, the case has lost its actionable right, there is no tenant and by extension a statutory tenancy over which the Rent Control Court acquires jurisdiction to issue any substantive decision, the case lost its object and therefore the Court dismissed it.