ABSTRACT
The most important species of statutory tenancies arise under the Rent Restriction Acts, which have had a profound effect on the law of landlord and tenant in those territories that have enacted such legislation. The purpose and effect of the Jamaican legislation were concisely explained by Carberry JA in Golden Star Manufacturing Co Ltd v Jamaica Frozen Foods Ltd : 1
Now the Rent Restriction Act, and it has by now a fairly long history in Jamaica, was introduced in 1944 to protect tenants against landlords. Speaking generally, it has done so in two ways: (a) by controlling the quantum of rent which could be charged, and (b) by protecting the tenant’s occupation of the rented premises. (a) has been achieved by the establishment of Rent Boards empowered to fi x the rents that may be required of a tenant, while (b) has been achieved by limiting the power of courts to make orders requiring the tenant to give up possession of the premises. Landlords may recover possession only if they show (i) that they would have been so entitled at law, by the termination of the contractual tenancy by an appropriate legal method, and in addition (ii) they must satisfy the additional requirements laid down in the Act [see ss 25, 26 of the Rent Restriction Act ( Jamaica)].
