Q2. An original tenancy agreement has expired. The tenant continues to pay for the monthly rent and stay in the subdivided unit with the landlord’s consent. Are the tenancy regulations applicable?

Q2. An original tenancy agreement has expired. The tenant continues to pay for the monthly rent and stay in the subdivided unit with the landlord’s consent. Are the tenancy regulations applicable?

Yes. Where a tenant holds over with the landlord’s consent, express or implied, at the end of a fixed-term tenancy and either party may at any time terminate the arrangement at will, it is a tenancy at will. If the tenant pays rent to the landlord by reference to a period, and the landlord accepts, the tenancy becomes a periodic tenancy. The next day after the expiry of the fixed-term tenancy is taken as the commencement of the periodic tenancy. The tenancy regulations on subdivided units are applicable to such tenancy.

If a fixed-term tenancy expires before the material date of Part IVA of the Landlord and Tenant (Consolidation) Ordinance (Cap. 7) , i.e., 22 January 2022, and a period of the periodic tenancy in question straddles the material date, that periodic tenancy is taken to be the first term tenancy and the term of the tenancy is taken to be 2 years commencing on the date immediately after the expiry of the period that straddles material date. In usual terms, that is the first rent payment day after the material date of the Ordinance.

If the periodic tenancy immediately following the fixed-term tenancy in question commences on or after the material date, it is taken to be the first term tenancy and the term of the tenancy is taken to be 2 years commencing with the periodic tenancy.