(1987)1987 May 26 [TRIANTAFYLLIDES Ρ LORIS AND STYLIANIDES JJ] MICHAELVASSILIOUUNDER HIS CAPACITY AS ADMINISTRATOR OF THE ESTATE OF THE LATE SOTERISCHAKLIDES DECEASED, Appellant-Applicant, ν THE ATTORNEY-GENERAL OF THE REPUBLIC, THROUGH THE CENTRALCOMMITTEEFOR PROTECTION OF TURK1SH-CYPRIOTPROPERTIES, Respondent (CaseStatedNo 226) Rent Control — Statutory tenancy —Nature of nght — Death of tenant — Right does not vest in the administrator of his estateor devolve on his heirs, but transmitted to hisspouse with whom he wasresiding atthe time of his death — The Rent Control Law 23/83, section 2 Rent Control — The Rent Control Law 23/83 — Section 4 — Junsdiction ofRent Control Court — Confined to 'disputes ansmg out of the application of» that Law — No relationship of landlord and tenant or statutory tenant between parties to application — Said Court does not have junsdiction Trespass— Outside ambit of said jurisdiction 5 Rent Control — The Rent Control Law 36/75 — Effect 10 The late Chaklides of Limassol became a statutory tenant by operation of theRentControlLaw 36/75ofashopinLimassol He remainedin possession oftheshopuntilhisdeathinOctober, 1984 He leftawifewho was cohabiting with him The Attorney-General of the Republic applied tothe Rent Control Court sitting at Limassol for an order of recovery of possession of the said 1 5 shop The respondentinthesaidapplication appellant beforethis Court-was the administrator of the estate ofthe late Chaklides The tnalCourt heldthatthestatutory tenancyvested intheadministrator of the estate ofthe lateChaklides, whose wife hadonly anght toapply forgrant to her ofa tenancy, which she didnot Havingdealtwith thesubstance ofthe 2 0 case,thetnalCourtissuedtheorderforrecovery ofpossession,asprayedfor 358 1 C.L.R. VasatUou v. Attorney-General Hencethepresent appeal* 5 10 15 Held, allowingthe appeal:
(1)The rightconferred upon a statutory tenant ispurelyapersonalrightwithwhichhecannotdeal.Assuch,unlessthestatute expressly authorises him to pass it onto another person, it must cease the momenthe partswiththe possession ordies.Statutorytenancyisnota right which can-be inherited. It does not devolve on the heirs or vest in the administrator oftheestate ofthe deceased.
(2)Undersection2of Law23/83«statutorytenant·includesonewhowas statutory tenant prior to the coming into operation of this Law. From the definition of «tenant· and •statutory tenant» in Law 23/S3 it is clear that a statutorytenancyistransmittedonthedeathofastatutorytenanttohisspouse withwhom hewasresidingatthetimeofhisdeath.
(3)The appellant-administrator was not a statutory tenant and, therefore, therewasnorelationship oflandlord and tenantorstatutorytenant between the applicant and therespondent inthe application. Asinvirtueof section 4 of Law 23/83 the jurisdiction of the Rent Control Court is confined «to disputesarisingout ofthe application·of that Law,the Rent Controlhad no jurisdiction. The tort of trespass, if committed by the administrator, isagain outsidetheambitofsuchjurisdiction. 20 Appealallowed. Noorderastocosts. Casesreferredto: Meltzv. Pelengaris
(1977)1C.L.R.226, Yiannopooulosv, Theodoulou
(1979)1C.L.R.215; PolycastPanelsLtd.v. VourkasFabricsLtd
(1986)1C.L.R. 107; 25 • MarcroftWagonsLtd.v.Smith (195112 KB.496; HjiEvangelou v.Kermia Co.Ltd.
(1971)1 C.L.R.375; JohnLovibond andSons v. Mncenr(1929] 1K.B.687; Keevesv.Dean11924}1K.B. 685; InreKakos
(1984)1 C.L.R.876. 30 Casestated. Case stated by the Chairman of the Rent Control Court of Limassol relative to his decision of the 20th February, 1984 in 'Thisappealwasmatebywayofcosestated(Sectton7ofLaw23/83),but to 5(1}ofLaw79/86itwastreatedasanordinaryappeal. 359 Vassiliou v. Attorney-General
(1987)proceeding under the provisions of the RentControl Law, 1983 {Law No 23/83) instituted by the Attorney-General of the Republic against Michael Vassiliou in his capacity as Administrator of the late Sotens Chaklides whereby an order of pessession was issued against thetenant 5 Μ Vassiliou, for the appellant Chr loannides, for therespondent TRIANTAFYLLIDES Ρ The judgment of the Court will be delivered by Mr Justice Styliamdes STYLIANIDES J This appeal was made by case stated, as provided by Section 7 of the Rent RestnctionLaw, 1983 (No 23 of 1983) 10 Section 7was repealed andsubstituted by Section4oftheRent Restnction (Amendment) Law, 1986 (No 79 of 1986) which provides that all decisions of the RentControlCourtare liable to 15 appeal before theSupreme Courtwithin42 daysfrom theirissue Under Section 5
(1)of Law No 79/86, any pending «case stated» at the commencement of the operation of the said Law, wi'l betnedandtreatedby theSupreme Courtasordinary appeal The Attorney-General of the Republic by Application No 87/ 20 84 applied to the Rent Control Court sitting at Limassol for an order of recovery of possession of ashopsituated at49, Sanpolos Street, in Limassol town The respondent in that application appellant before us - issued inhis capacity asadministrator of the estate of the late Sotens Chaklides of Limassol who passed away 25 in October, 1983 He is descnbed in the application as «statutory tenant» The undisputed facts are Thelate Chaklides was inoccupationof thesaidshopever since 1959 as tenant By a wntten contractof lease dated 24 11 75 the 30 said shop was leased to him for one year as from 1 10 75 The penod was extended for anotheryear -(See exhibit No 2) In the Rent Control Law, 1975 (No. 36 of 1975), an all embracing law that repealed and substituted all previous rent control legislation, a «statutory tenant» meant a tenant of 35 immovable completed and first let before 31st October, 1974, a date that was extended to 31st December, 1978, by the Rent 360 1 C.L.R. Vassiliou v. Attorney-General Stylianides J. Control (Amendment) Law, 1980 (No.6 of 1980). By this definition all the contractual tenancies of premises situatedwithinacontrolledareacompletedandletforthefirsttime before 31st December, 1978, were transformed into statutory 5 tenancies before the expiration of the period of contractual tenancy and the benefit of the Law was made available to all the tenants -(Meitz v.Pelengaris;
(1977)1C.L.R. 226; Yannopoulos v. Theodoulou,
(1979)1 C.L.R. 215; Polycast Panels Ltd. v. VourkasFabricsLtd.,
(1986)1C.L.R. 107). 10 Chaklides became by operation of thisLaw a statutory tenant. He remained in possession of the premises as tenant until his death. He left a wife who, on the evidence before the trial Court, wascohabiting with him. The appellant objected that the Rent Control Court had no 15 jurisdiction as the administrator of the estate ofthe said deceased wasnotastatutorytenant and thatthewidowofthedeceased was in possession of the shop as statutory tenant in virtue of the rent control legislation. The trial Court held that the statutory tenancy of the deceased 20 vested in the administrator of his estate who, therefore, was a statutory tenant of the premises. The wife of the deceased had only a right under the Law to apply for grant to her of tenancy whichshedidnot.Havingdealtwiththesubstance ofthecase,the trial Court issued the order for recovery of possession, as prayed 25 for. We have to consider what isthe nature of statutory tenancy. Is it a right or interest that forms part of the estate of the statutory tenant which vestsinthe administrator of his estate? The Rent Control Law issocial legislation with two objects: to 30 secure the possession of the premises by the tenant and to keep rents at reasonable levels.Statutory tenancy is,strictly speaking, nota tenancy atlaw. Therightconfened upon astatutory tenant ispurely a personal right.The rent control legislation createsastatusof irremovability 35 of the statutory tenant as an occupier of the premises - (Marcroft WagonsLtd.v. Smith, [1951]2K.B.496;Evanthia Hji-Evangehu v.KermiaCo. Ltd.,
(1971)1C.L.R. 375,378). The right conferred upon the statutory tenant is a purely 361 Stylianides J . V&asiliouv. Attorney-General
(1967)personalrightwith which hecannot deal -(Scrutton, L.J., in John Lovibond and Sons v. Vincent, [1929] 1 K.B.687).Hisrightisa purely personal one and, as such, unless the statute expressly authonses him to pass it onto another person, must cease the moment he parts with the possession or dies - (Keeves v.Dean, 5 [1924] 1K.B.685). Statutory tenancyisnotarightwhich devolvesontheheirsoris vested in the administrator of the estate of a deceased. Itisnot a rightwhich can be inherited.Theadministrator oftheestate ofthe late Chaklides was not a statutory tenant of the shop in question 10 andno right ofstatutory tenancy vested in him. UnderSection 2oftheRentControl Law1983(No23of1983), «statutory tenant» includes one who wasstatutory tenant prior to the coming into operation of this Law. From the definition of «tenant» and «statutory tenant» in Law No.23/83 itisabundantly 15 clear that a statutory tenancy is transmitted on the death of a statutory tenant to his spouse with whom he was residing at the timeofhisdeath.Thus,byoperation ofLaw,thestatutorytenancy istransmitted tohissaidspouseand/orbystatutorysubstitution the surviving spouse residing with the deceased tenant acquires the 20 status of statutory tenant. It is not necessary for the surviving spouse to make any request or application in order to become a statutory tenant, ifshe hasthe qualityof cohabitation. In the present case we deemed it unnecessary to determine whether such right was transmitted to the wife in view of any 25 anticipated future litigation onthe matter. The appellant-administrator was not a statutory tenant. The jurisdiction of the Rent Control Court established bySection 4of Law No. 23/83 isconfined tocases referred to itwith regard «to disputes arising out of the application» of that Law. Asthere was no relationship oflandlord andtenant orstatutorytenant between the applicant Attorney-General and the appellant-administrator, the Rent Control Court had no jurisdiction to entertain this application. If the administrator committed any act of trespass to immovableproperty,againthistortisoutsidetheambitoftheRent 35 Control Courts -(In reKakos,
(1984)1C.L.R. 876). In view of the aforesaid, in our judgment, the application for recovery of possession could not proceed against the administrator of the estate of the late.Chaklides. The order made 362 1 C.L.R. Vassiliou v. Attorney-General Styliantdes J. bythe RentControl Court of Limassol waswrongly issued. The appeal succeeds The judgment of the trial Court is set aside. Inview of the circumstances of thiscase we make no order astocosts. 5 Appeal allowed with no orderasto costs. 363