Aruba Rental Laws: Pro-landlord, Neutral or Pro-tenant?

Aruba landlord and tenant laws are judged by the Global Property Guide to be Pro-Tenant between landlord and tenant. 

Aruba's rental laws lean pro-tenant, particularly through:

• Mandatory Tenant Committee involvement,

• Rent control mechanisms,

• Strong protections against arbitrary eviction.

Rents: Can landlord and tenant freely agree rents in Aruba?

in Aruba, landlords and tenants are generally free to agree on the amount of rent at the beginning of a lease, especially for private residential properties and commercial leases. However, this freedom comes with important limitations depending on the type of property and rent level. Rent-controlled properties and increases during the lease may be regulated and subject to review by the Tenant Committee.

Security Deposits

Neither the Ordinance nor the Civil Code of Aruba contains provisions regarding security deposits or rental deposits (In Arub,a there is no distinction between security or rental deposits).

What rights do landlords and tenants have in Aruba, especially as to duration of contract, and eviction?

In most cases, before a landlord can evict a tenant, they must first submit a request to the Tenant Committee for approval. Both the landlord and the tenant are required to attend a hearing where the Committee will assess the legality of the eviction. Typically, a tenant must have at least three months' worth of overdue rent before the Committee will approve the eviction request. Making partial rent payments, even if small, is better than paying nothing. It shows the tenant's willingness to resolve the issue and reduces the likelihood of the Committee granting the eviction.

Contracts for indefinite periods of time

The landlord needs first to receive permission from the Committee to end an indefinite period tenancy. The tenant should observe the agreed term or notice, or, if the parties did not agree to a term of notice, a reasonable term of notice.

Contracts for specified periods of time

The landlord cannot terminate the tenancy agreement even after the date of expiry without permission from the Committee, where the tenant wishes to extend. However, the tenant can terminate the tenancy agreement after the expiration of the term.

Premature termination of the tenancy agreement is, in principle, only allowed by mutual consent between the landlord and the tenant.

If a written tenancy agreement has expired, but the tenant is still actually living in the rented house, this will be seen as a renewed tenancy agreement. The renewed tenancy agreement will be a tenancy agreement for an indefinite period of time.

The landlord can request the Committee's permission to terminate the tenancy agreement. The Committee will give permission on the following grounds:

• The tenant does not pay the rent on time, or does not use the house as a good administrator.
• Under special circumstances, the Committee may accept other grounds if the landlord has a legitimate interest in the termination of the tenancy agreement.

Both landlord and tenant can also request the Court of First Instance of Aruba to dissolve the tenancy agreement because of the default of the other party or exceptional circumstances.

After expiration of the tenancy agreement (due to termination or dissolution), the landlord can initiate eviction proceedings before the Court of First Instance of Aruba in case the tenant is not willing to surrender the premises. In principle, the landlord should first give notice to the tenant before initiating such eviction proceedings.

If the landlord wishes to sell the house, the tenancy agreement will not be terminated, except in case this has been agreed upon beforehand between landlord and tenant.

How effective is the Aruban legal system?

In case a tenant does not pay the rent, the landlord can request dissolution of the tenancy agreement by court proceedings. Furthermore, the landlord can start legal proceedings to collect the rent.

Also, the landlord can request the eviction of the tenant. He may start summary proceedings, which will take approximately 2 to 6 weeks, to obtain an eviction judgment. However, to dissolve a tenancy agreement, the landlord should initiate proceedings on the merits, which may last approximately one year.

Legislation

Previously, lease law in Aruba was governed by both the Civil Code and the outdated and often unclear Lease Commission Ordinance (Huurcommissieverordening). However, this ordinance has since been revised and fully incorporated into the Civil Code, which now contains all applicable lease regulations in one cohesive framework.

Brief History: Recent changes in Aruban landlord and tenant law

The Netherlands Antilles are an autonomous civil law territory of the Kingdom of the Netherlands located in the Caribbean, and consist of two island groups, the southern group of Curaçao and Bonaire (north of Venezuela), and the northern group of Sint Maarten, Saba, and Sint Eustatius (east of Puerto Rico). Aruba used to be an island of the Netherlands Antilles; however, in 1986, after a referendum, the island of Aruba was constitutionally separated from the Netherlands Antilles, but it still remains part of the Netherlands. Aruba introduced the Civil Code of Aruba, which is, in many aspects, similar to the Civil Code of the Netherlands Antilles. In Aruba, there has not been any radical intrinsic deregulation or re-regulation in the past few decades in the rent legislation.