The current law of letting and hiring of dwelling houses : does it strike a ‘fair balance’ between the rights of the lessor and lessee?

Abstract

The law of letting and hiring has gone through various amendments throughout the years. The Civil Code Amendment Act and the Housing Laws Amendment Act2 have brought about significant change to the rights and duties that the lessor and lessee have within the contract of lease of dwelling houses. The legislator wanted to eridicate the exaggerated protection that the tenant was afforded with and create a situation where a „fair balance‟ is struck between the two parties. The scope of this research project is to analyse whether the „fair balance‟ aimed by means of the amendments is actually being reflected in the decisions given in Maltese jurisprudence. The landlord-tenant relationship shall be examined from both legal and market point of view whilst also analysing whether the interrelationship of such sectors is effecting the attainment of fair balance. If the latter study will result in the negative, various plausible solutions will be proposed.