The Law of Tenant Discrepancies: How to Deal with Late Rent Payments?

【Legal English Series 6：The Law of Tenant Discrepancies: How to Deal with Late Rent Payments?】

Welcome back to the practical and engaging Legal English Series! 🫶

Have you ever seen in the news cases where landlords cut off water and electricity, or change locks to evict tenants because of late rent payments? Do you think that because the tenant is at fault, the landlord's actions are simply defending their rights appropriately? Or do you think landlords should have other, more appropriate ways of handling such situations?

This issue relates to Article 10 of the Rental Housing Market Development and Regulation Act "The lessor may terminate the lease before expiry if one of the following conditions holds during the lease period, and the lessee may not demand any compensation: After a reasonable period of notification, the total rental or fees in arrears amounts to two months’ rent." 

Consequently, even in cases where the tenant has not paid the rent, the termination of the lease is allowed only if the delay lasts for more than two months and the tenant has not paid even after the notice of the landlord and must be terminated legally by the Court's proceedings for the transfer of property. Therefore, if the landlord claims that late payments are a reason and unilaterally disconnects water and electricity or changes the locks, prevents the tenant from entering and using the premises, the landlord may violate Article 304 of the Criminal Code in respect of coercion.

Given the importance of maintaining good relations and avoiding long-term legal disputes, owners can consider including a guarantor in the signature process. For example, if a child rents a property, their parent could serve as a guarantee, allowing the landlord to seek a recourse from the parent if the child defaults on the rent. Meanwhile, if tenants find that landlords are illegally removing services, they should keep a copy of the rental agreement and collect evidence for legal action to protect their rights.

We hope the content of today will help you (although we also hope you will never have to use it, haha!). Until next week!