Grounds for judicial ejectment of tenants from leased premises

Grounds for judicial ejectment of tenants from leased premises "The tenants in my apartment are not paying their monthly rent for four months now. I understand the financial difficulty that they are currently in. However, that apartment is one of our sources of income and we also have needs in our family. Can I ask them to leave the house even if their contract is not yet finished? I also learned that they are subleasing one of the rooms of the apartment to a student even if our contract contains a prohibition in subleasing.Tess Dear Tess,An evaluation of Republic Act 9653, or the Rent Control Act of 2009 will help us answer your questions. Section 9 thereof enumerates the grounds for judicial ejectment of tenants from the leased premises: SEC. 9. Grounds for Judicial Ejectment.—Ejectment shall be allowed on the following grounds:(a) Assignment of lease or subleasing of residential units in whole or in part, including the acceptance of boarders or bedspacers, without the written consent of the owner/lessor (b) Arrears in payment of rent for a total of three (3) months: Provided, That in the case of refusal by the lessor to accept payment of the rent agreed upon, the lessee may either deposit, by way of consignation, the amount in court, or with the city or municipal treasurer, as the case may be, or barangay chairman, or in a bank in the name of and with notice to the lessor, within one (1) month after the refusal of the lessor to accept payment. The lessee shall thereafter deposit the rent within ten (10) days of every current month. Failure to deposit the rent for three (3) months shall constitute a ground for ejectment. The lessor, upon authority of the court in case of consignation or upon joint affidavit by him and the lessee to be submitted to the city or municipal treasurer or barangay chairman and to the bank where deposit was made, shall be allowed to withdraw the depositsx x x One of the obligations of a lessee is to pay the price of the lease or the rent according to the terms stipulated between the lessee and the lessor (Article 1657, Civil Code of the Philippines). According to you, your tenants have not been paying their rent for four months now. Applying the aforementioned provisions of law, you can ask your tenants to leave your apartment even if their contract is not yet finished. Moreover, your tenants committed another violation by sub-leasing one of the rooms of the apartment to a student without your permission. Section 8 of Repulbic Act 9653 prohibits the assignment of lease or subleasing of the whole or any portion of a residential unit, including the acceptance of boarders or bedspacers, without the written consent of the owner/lessor.Editor’s note: Dear PAO is a daily column of the Public Attorney’s Office. Questions for Chief Acosta may be sent to dearpao@manilatimes.net or via text message (key in: Times dearpao and send to 2299)." - https://www.affordablecebu.com/