The rental market is very supportive in Aruba

Rent: Can tenants and landlords agree to rent freely in Aruba?

The rent may generally be freely determined by the parties in a tenancy agreement. The increase in such rents can also be determined freely. عقارات للبيع

Caribbean Aruba Islands

Certain immovable categories, however, are subject to obligatory rules on rent determination (Ordinance On The Rent Assessment Advisory Committee (1991) known as the Ordinance). These obligatory rules apply to buildings of less than AWG 100,000 (approximately US$55,000) including residential housing, shops, bars, restaurants, hotels and offices except hotel buildings, airports and sea ports. The Rent Assessment Advisory Committee — known as the ‘Committee’ — shall be responsible for establishing the rent and any request for an increase of that rental in accordance with the mandatory rules of law. The Committee will base the rent on the building cost percentage.

In practice, most landlords do not turn to the Committee to decide on rent despite these obligatory law rules. They often conclude agreements with tenants and decide the rent with each other’s agreement.

Deposits for Security

Neither the Aruba Ordinance nor the Civil Code contains provisions on deposits or rental deposits (In Aruba there is no distinction between security or rental deposits).

What rights have property owners and tenants in Aruba, in particular regarding contract duration and expulsion?

There is a difference between contracts for indefinite time periods and contracts for a certain time period.

Contracts for indefinite term

Aruba Strandhouses

The landlord must first be permitted to end an indefinite tenancy by the Committee. The tenant should observe the agreed term or notice or a reasonable notice period if the parties do not agree to a warning term.

Contracts for specified time periods

Even after the expiry date, the tenant cannot terminate the tenancy agreement without permission from the committee, where the tenant wants to extend it. The tenant may however terminate the tenancy agreement after the term has expired.

In principle, only by mutual consent between landlord and tenant is the premature termination of the tenancy agreement permitted.

If a written tenancy agreement expires but the tenant still lives in the rented house, it is considered a renewed tenancy agreement. The renewed tenancy agreement will be an indefinite tenancy agreement.

The owner may request permission from the Committee to terminate the tenancy agreement. For the following reasons, the Committee shall grant permission:

The tenant will not pay the rent in time or use the house as a good manager.

Under special circumstances, if the landlord has a legitimate interest in terminating the tenancy agreement, the committee may accept other reasons.

Both the landlord and the tenant may also ask the Aruba Tribunal, in default of the other party or exceptional circumstances, to dissolve the tenancy agreement.

The landlord may open evictions before the Court of First Instance of Aruba after the expiry of the tenancy contract in case the tenant is not willing to surrender the premises. In principle, the landlord should first notify the tenant before such eviction is initiated.

The tenancy agreement shall not be terminated if the landlord wishes to sell the house, unless this is agreed in advance by the landlord and tenant.

How effective is the law of Aruban?

Aruba Caribbean Real State

In case a tenant does not pay the rent, the landlord may request the tenancy agreement to be dissolved through court proceedings. The landlord may also commence legal proceedings to collect the rent.

The landlord can also request the tenant’s eviction. It may begin summary proceedings, which take about 2 to 6 weeks, to obtain an eviction judgment. However, the landlord should open a proceedings on the merits to dissolve a tenancy agreement, which may last for approximately one year.

Legislation

Ordinance of the 1991 Civil Code of Aruba Rent Assessment Advisory Committee.

Brief History: Recent changes in the Aruban property and tenant legislation

The Netherlands Antilles are an autonomous civil law area of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, which is located in the Caribbean and comprises two island groups, Curaçao South and Bonaire South and Sint Maarten Saba South North and Eustatius North (east of Puerto Rico). However, the island of Aruba was constitutionally separated from the Netherlands Antilles in 1986 following a referendum, but it still is part of the Netherlands. Aruba has established the Aruba Civil Code, similar in many respects to the Netherlands Antilles Civil Code. In Aruba, in recent decades there has been no radical intrinsic de-regulation or re-regulation in the rent legislation.