Changes in tenement without owner's consent

The owner of a tenement recently learned that his tenant has opened a door in the premises, thereby gaining access to an adjacent street. Moreover, the tenant has carried out other minor structural alterations without the landlord's consent.

Is the landlord entitled to block the door, bringing the tenement back to its original state and to evict the tenant from the premises for carrying out works without his consent?

The landlord must first refer to any existing agreement he may have with the tenant, which may prohibit or allow the alterations described.

Failing any such contractual agreement, Section 1564 (1) of the Civil Code provides that the lessee may not, during the continuance of the lease, make any alteration in the thing let without the consent of the lessor, and he is not entitled to claim the value, whatever it may be, of any improvement made without such consent.

During the term of the lease the lessee may, however, remove such improvements, restoring the thing to its original condition. On the other hand, with respect to improvements existing at the termination of the lease, for the lessee to remove such improvements, he must show that he can obtain some profit by taking them away with him, and provided further that the lessor does not decide to keep them and pay the lessee a sum equal to the profit which, by taking them away, the latter would obtain.

Another important obligation imposed by law upon the tenant is that, at the termination of the lease, he is bound to restore the thing let in the same condition in which he received it. In this regard, the landlord may bring an action in court requesting it to order the tenant to restore the tenement to its original state and thus block the door he opened.

As to whether the landlord may evict the tenant because of the unauthorised alterations, much depends upon the nature and extent of these alterations. Their nature would be an imperative consideration as to whether such ground for dissolution of the lease exists.

If the lease in question has entered into the reletting phase, in terms of Section 9 (a) of the Reletting of Urban Property (Regulation) Ordinance, the landlord is entitled to evict the tenant from the premises if he can prove that such alteration has caused considerable damage or otherwise if as a result of making the alterations the tenant has breached the conditions of the lease. In the latter case, the landlord's plea is of breach of contract.

If the owner chooses to evict the tenant he shall have to bring an application before the Rent Regulation Board.

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