High Court Judgement Causes Fresh Headaches on Commercial Tenants in Zimbabwe.
Introduction Earlier this year, the tussles between the competing rights and interests of lessors and tenants were settled by the High Court in favour of lessors. Commercial and residential tenants both enjoyed the benefit of what is called statutory tenancy before the judgment by Justice Chinamora in Elnour United Engineering Group (Pvt) Ltd v Minister of Industry & Ors HH 81-23. Statutory tenancy occurs when a tenant whose lease agreement has expired continues to perform all obligations (eg paying rent) regarding the expired lease. Under such circumstances, they are allowed to remain on the property despite the fact that their lease has expired. Before the judgment, the lessor could only evict the tenant with a court order after serving 3 months’ notice of eviction on the tenant. In addition, the lessor was required to justify repossessing the property on acceptable grounds for instance breach of the lease agreement, the need to do renovations, wanting to use the property