Alterations to leased property

The owner of a house, who has leased it, has discovered that the tenant has carried out many alterations without having his consent. These include the removal of the main door, the bathrooms and their accessories, and the bedroom doors. The landlord has no intention of consenting to these changes and insists on asking the tenant to leave the premises.

What is the landlord's position at law?

All depends upon the terms and conditions of the contract of lease that may exist between the landlord and the tenant. If the tenant's actions violate the provisions of the contract, then the landlord would have every right to proceed against the tenant upon the basis of the contractual dispositions.

If no written contract exists, then the law shall apply. In this respect, a general legal principle is that a tenant is to make use of a house that has been leased to him as a bonus paterfamilias (good head of household). Therefore, the test is whether a bonus paterfamilias would have considered that the changes complained of actually cause considerable damage to the house rather than improving it.

The law also provides that the tenant, may not, during the continuance of the lease, make any alteration in the thing let without obtaining the landlord's consent. Thus, in the circumstances, the landlord might be entitled to sue the tenant either for the dissolution of the lease or for damages, or even for both.

If the lease in question would have already entered its reletting stage, then, in terms of Chapter 69 of the Laws of Malta, if considerable damage has been caused to the thing let, or if the tenant has failed to adhere to the conditions of the lease, the landlord would be entitled to apply before the Rent Regulation Board for permission to evict the tenant from the premises and resume possession of them.

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