City Businessman Sudhir Ruparelia Applauds President Museveni For Signing Landlord & Tenants Bill Into Law
By Uganda Online Media
Kampala: Uganda’s business magnet, Sudhir Ruparelia has applauded Yoweri Kaguta Museveni for signing the Landlord and Tenant Bill into law.
The new law will now regulate the relationship between landlords and tenants, reform and consolidate the law relating to the letting of premises and provide for the responsibilities of landlords and tenants in relation to the letting of premises.
According to Sudhir, the new law will streamline their relationship with tenants, with each party aware of its responsibility, something that has been lacking in this sector. He says this law will finally bring sanity into the sector.
“It will check landlords who were not respecting the law and their tenants. Most landlords do not give tenants agreements. We could be the only ones who have consistently given all our tenants agreements for more than 10 years,” Sudhir noted.
“The law protects both tenants and landlords. The tenants will now know their rights. It will reduce the court cases between the two parties, ” he added.
President Museveni assented to the Landlord and Tenants Bill 2021 after a meeting with the speaker of parliament Anita Among at State House in Entebbe yesterday morning.
The new law will also see an increment on rent restricted to not more than 10 per cent annually.
Although the landlords are happy with the provision of increasing rent by 10 per cent annually, they expressed concern over the provision that bars them from forcibly evicting tenants who fail to pay rent.
Parliament also passed a provision that the currency of transaction between landlord and tenant shall be in Uganda Shillings.
The new law will also see penalties for landlords who are found liable of unlawfully evicting their tenants. This conditions the landlord to compensate a tenant three months equivalent of rent dues.
Furthermore, the law proposes that a notice for increment of rent should be issued 60 days before its implementation.
