Structural alterations in leased premises

A reader who had granted a shop on lease has recently learned that the tenant opened a door in one of the walls of the leased premises so as to have access to an adjacent building which is owned by the tenant. Reader wants the tenant to close the door and rebuild the wall to bring the shop back to its original state.

What is the position at law?

First and foremost, the parties must refer to any existing written agreement which may regulate the lease in question. This agreement may, specifically, provide for the prohibition of structural alterations without the landlord's prior consent.

Failing any contractual agreement, the law provides that a tenant may not, during the continuance of a lease, make any alterations to the thing let without obtaining the prior consent of the owner of the leased premises.

If the landlord continues accepting the payment of rent following his knowledge of these alterations, he may be deemed to have tacitly accepted them and thus renounced to any right competent to him in terms of law against the tenant.

However, there is no hard and fast rule and should not be strictly interpreted so.

Local jurisprudence states that a tenant may, without the prior consent of the landlord, make alterations to the thing let, provided that such alterations are minor, do not frustrate the nature and destination of the tenement granted on lease, are necessary (or useful) for the full enjoyment of the thing let and could easily be removed at the termination of the lease, thereby returning the tenement to its original state.

In any case, whether or not these works should or should not have been executed, the Reader has every right to demand the tenant to restore the shop to its original state at the termination of the lease period. Any expenses that may be incurred in rebuilding the wall at the end of the lease are to be borne by the tenant.

Reader should note that actions for restoring any alterations not permitted by law and jurisprudence are time barred by the lapse of five years. This time period shall start to run from the day when the landlord became aware of the alterations and this time period could be interrupted by filing a judicial act within those five years and served on the tenant within a month from the expiration of the five years.

Send your legal problems, of general public interest, together with your name and address, to The Lawyer, c/o The Sunday Times, PO Box 328, Valletta CMR 01 (fax 2124-0806, e-mail: sunday@timesofmalta.com).