 Hello everyone, my name is Jose Delgado, I'm a Corporal Commercial Attorney. Today we are going to be addressing a query that is often asked by landlords, specifically in light of the Consumer Protection Act, which is not so new anymore, that there are some very, very dramatic changes that have come into our law based on this piece of legislation, which many landlords are oblivious to, blissfully oblivious to unfortunately. So the law has changed in that it's given consumers quite a number of rights that landlords are unaware of. The Consumer Protection Act does govern rental contracts, so the provision of accommodation even, just the provision of accommodation is seen as a service. So having a tenant with a rental contract or an arrangement clearly falls within the ambit of the act. So this will give the tenant rights in certain instances that you need to be aware of as a landlord. Tenant can cancel the lease if they give you 20 days notice. Of course as a landlord you're entitled to get some compensation for damages for the early termination of a contract. That said, you can't just sit back and claim as much as you like. There is a principle in our law called the Mitigation of Damages Principle. So you've got to go and attend to get a new tenant and not on sort of crazy terms that you will then try and justify holding the tenant libel, so all in balance. You'll go out, get a tenant, the person who's given you early notification, they will then be liable to you for damages which you'll have to calculate and obviously recover from them. Hopefully you'll have a deposit that is sufficient. If you don't, you may have to bring legal action to restore the premises, to get your damages for the early cancellation, etc. A major issue for you to consider as a landlord is Section 61 of the Act which deals with strict liability. In the past, before the introduction of this piece of legislation, somebody would have to prove negligence on your part as a landlord in order to claim damages from you. The new Act says that the provisional goods or services which rent or accommodation is, basically the fact that you've provided the rental space or the premises will make you liable whether you're negligent or not. So in the past, your tenant, if they were injured or suffered some form of damages, they would have to bring an action and show that you're negligent to be successful in a claim. That's gone out the window. You're in a position now where under the strict liability principle any damages can now be, you can be sued for any type of damages which can be huge, specifically if there's injuries or possibly improbable death or something to that effect. So it can be quite a huge claim you may be facing. To secure yourself, of course you'd be prudent and take insurance, but the insurance doesn't always pay out. There could be repudiation events. There could be scenarios on your part that will render you liable. So be very cautious. Alright, so as a landlord, we strongly advise that in your lease agreement, whether you're doing it yourself or whether you're getting an agent or a managing person to handle that, ensure that you have your lease drawn up in plain simple English. You can indemnify yourself. The law however says that you've got to be very specific to informing the tenant of exactly what they're indemnifying you from or them from. So you've got to ensure that that is very clear and it sets out what the tenant is indemnifying you from. So gone are the old blanket indemnity clauses that just says, what's over, how's over from whatever cause there is and you've got to be much more specific now. So just ensure that your indemnity is as comprehensive as possible that may come to your aid in the event that there is a claim.