ABSTRACT
The Rent Restriction Acts have had a profound effect on the law of landlord and tenant in those territories which 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
Carberry JA’s explanation applies equally to the Rent Restriction Acts in other Caribbean jurisdictions.2 These statutes are modelled, to some extent, on English legislation, in particular the Increase of Rent and Mortgage Interest (Restrictions) Act 1920 and the Rent and Mortgage Interest (Restrictions) Act 1939, but have departed from them in several important respects. For example, unlike the English Rent Acts, which apply to residential tenancies only, the Caribbean Acts apply to building land and residential, commercial
and public premises.3 Thus, cases interpreting sections of the English Acts will often be of no relevance to the Caribbean legislation, though there are also many aspects of the English legislation which are similar to the Caribbean statutes and where English cases are reliable authorities.
