Missed long term rental payment

[michelle22cat]

Hello, I long term let my apartment out and the tenant has missed a month's rent. The tenancy agreement states that I have the right to enter the property if the rent payment is 14 days late (which it is). Does anyone have any experience of asking the tenant to leave and then changing locks etc, without a court order? If the tenant doesn't make up the month's missing rent, I really can't afford to take or wait for legal action.

If any of you have taken legal action what was the cost and how long did it take??

Any experience of this would be appreciated!!

Michelle

[Nigel Howarth]

I really can't afford to take or wait for legal action.

I'm afraid you may have no alternative than to seek legal advice. Maybe a 'stiff' letter from your lawyer will do the trick.

Have you spoken with the tenants about the problem?

Regards,

[Pantheman]

Hello Michelle,

14 days is not a lot of time, in fact you'd have to give notice anyway. To take any form of legal action the tenant needs to be 2 months in arrears, then you need to apply to the court.

You could go with someone and tell them unless they pay you will throw them out, but that'll just be your threat. if they called your bluff and didn't move then any attempt by you to go in they can call the police. Its a sh*t system, I know worst in the UK, I have property there and the tenent seems to have all the rights sadly.

Good luck all the same.

[andyp]

HI Michelle, We too let out long term and have a contract,drawn up by one of the biggest law firms in Cyprus, and have a condition whereby we can take entry to the property immediately if the rent is 21 days late.

As far as we were made aware there is no Landlord and Tenant Act in Cyprus and if your contract is clear and unambiguous and signed by both parties no further action is needed.

Luckily we have not needed to test this but I have no reason to suspect that the advice we received was wrong. You should of course check with your own lawyer.

Best of luck

[Pantheman]

HI Michelle, We too let out long term and have a contract,drawn up by one of the biggest law firms in Cyprus, and have a condition whereby we can take entry to the property immediately if the rent is 21 days late.

As far as we were made aware there is no Landlord and Tenant Act in Cyprus and if your contract is clear and unambiguous and signed by both parties no further action is needed.

Luckily we have not needed to test this but I have no reason to suspect that the advice we received was wrong. You should of course check with your own lawyer.

Best of luck

Do you mean take possession or actually enter the property.

I am not sure about no landlord/tenant act in cyprus, but from my experience, you need an eviction order to remove the tenant. I will try to look into this a bit more.

[andyp]

Hi Pan. It refers to both and I quote

" Should the tenant refuse to deliver free possession of the house and equipment to the landlord, the
landlord shall have the right to enter the house and take over possession of same."

Having checked my document there is no reference to court actions nor notices in the event of the rent being overdue by 21 days. Just the above.

Would be interested to learn of your research findings on the matter.

Andy.

[michelle22cat]

Hi all, thanks for all of your comments.

My tenancy agreement states that entry can be made after 14 days if a payment is missed, so this is probably similar to yours. I am not sure in reality though how legal it is to enter in this way and I suspect that a court order is probably needed to avoid things turning nasty.

Michelle

[andyp]

I did a bit more digging on this.

Generally tenancies are governed by Contract Law and if there is a condition to take back the property for non payment of rent that should be fine. However in some cases The Rent Control Law, does give some protection to tenants (Cypriot and EU Citizens only) from eviction under "certain circumstances".

From an article published by George Coucinos, sorry if I have got the surname wrong, The Rent Control Law only applies to designated areas and to properties built before 31/12/1999. All other house tenancies are called contractual and if signed and duly witnessed whatever is written in the contract applies.