Section 58

Notwithstanding any written law, where any controlled premises are the subject of an order under section 57(1), such proportion of the costs and expenses incurred by an owner in complying with the order as relates to any work executed only within the interior of the house or building may be recovered by the owner from the tenant thereof in equal instalments over a period of 24 months; and in the event of a change of tenancy, any outstanding balance due to the owner may be recovered by him from any subsequent tenant or tenants in equal instalments of the same amount.

Nothing in subsection (1) shall be construed as precluding any owner and tenant from agreeing upon a mutually acceptable arrangement for the payment of any amount due under that subsection.

The amount of costs and expenses payable under subsection (1) and, if necessary, the apportionment of the same, and any question of liability shall, in the case of any dispute between the owner and the tenant, be summarily ascertained and determined by a Magistrate’s Court or, if the amount exceeds $2,000, by a District Court; and where any such amount which a party is liable to pay has been determined by a Magistrate’s Court or a District Court, it may be recovered as if it were a fine imposed by that Court.

Where there is neglect, failure or refusal to pay the amount of the costs and expenses that a party is liable to pay under subsection (1), and the matter is not the subject of a dispute to which subsection (3) applies, that amount may be recovered in the same manner as if it were a fine imposed by a Magistrate’s Court.

An appeal shall lie to the High Court from any decision of a Magistrate’s Court or District Court under this section, and the provisions of the Criminal Procedure Code [Cap. 68] shall, mutatis mutandis, apply to all such appeals.

For the purposes of this section —

“controlled premises” means any house or building that is subject to control pursuant to the provisions of the Control of Rent Act [Cap. 58];

“tenant” means the tenant of controlled premises in respect of which a tenancy exists and includes a statutory tenant within the meaning of Part IV of the Control of Rent Act and in the case of a sub-tenancy a sub-tenant to whom the controlled premises are, or part thereof is, sublet.[59