The government is yet again under fire for introducing laws without proper consultation. On Tuesday, Harshana Nanayakkara, the justice minister, walked back a new rental law at its first reading in Parliament. Consultations on the occupants protection bill would go on for another month, he promised. Normally, stakeholder consultations take place prior to a bill going to Parliament.
The bill seeks to strengthen tenant rights. It will make it harder for landlords to evict tenants and disconnect utilities. The bill also mandates timeframes for the courts to make decisions.
The condominium developers association claims their input wasn’t sought at the drafting stage. They’re now challenging the bill in court. The Condominium Management Authority, the apartment regulator, said they played no role in drafting the controversial law either, and had only got to know about the bill last month.
Nanayakkara also defended the drafting process. He said invitations for public comment were published in all newspapers after the bill was gazetted, adding they had asked the bar association for their views as well. The ministry only received two submissions.
The government plans to introduce a new bill, Nanayakkara later told The Examiner. This bill would accompany the repeal of the Rent Act, he added.
The previous government presented an almost identical occupants protection bill to Parliament in 2024. But it wasn’t passed, and Parliament was dissolved soon after.
Balancing owners and occupiers
Nearly four percent of Sri Lankan households rented in 2016 — the latest available data. In Colombo that number is higher; thirteen percent of households rent.
Critics argue that, if the bill passed, any eviction or utility disconnection, even for occupants acting unlawfully, will require court intervention — a process that in practice often takes years, if not decades.
Ali Sabry, former justice minister, said that when he took office, the law was one-sided as it prioritised tenants. “The landlord had no rights at all. People were worried to give their properties on lease,” he added.
He asked Palitha Kumarasinghe, a lawyer, to chair a rent law reform committee. The occupants protection bill is one of three laws the committee drafted. The other two are the recovery of lease premises act and repeal of the Rent Act, a law passed in the 1970s.
These three reforms were meant to act in concert. The recovery of lease premises law and Rent Act repeal benefits owners, while the occupants protection bill preserves safeguards for renters.
The recovery of lease premises bill became law in 2023. Kumarasinghe says that it enables ejections of renters once their lease expires.
The law helped solve the problem of such cases dragging on for decades, said Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe, justice minister when the law was passed. “Earlier when you give a property for one year or two years, to get it back you will have to litigate for 20 years.”
