Cap. 16 Art. 1555ANon-use of tenement.

(1) In the case of a residential tenement, failure to use the tenement for a period exceeding twelve months shall be deemed to be bad use of the thing leased in terms of article 1555:

Provided that when a person has failed to use the leased tenement due to being temporarily absent from the tenement due to work, study or health care, then such failure shall not be deemed to be bad use.

(2) When the lessee of a lease which started before the 1st June, 1995 is recovering in hospital or in an old people’s home, and where such institution certifies or where it conclusively results that the same tenant is permanently dependent on the institution, for the purposes of the continuation of a lease according to the Reletting of

Urban Property (Regulation) Ordinance and the Housing

(Decontrol) Ordinance, the said permanent dependence shall have the same effects as the death of the lessee.

(3) In the case of commercial premises, failure to use the said tenement for a commercial purpose in accordance with the provisions of a contract of lease shall be deemed to be bad use of the thing leased in accordance with the provisions of article 1555.

(4) The provisions of article 1555 shall also apply in the case of rural tenements, if the lessee abandons the cultivation thereof, or does not cultivate the said tenement as a bonus paterfamilias, and the lessor may thereby suffer prejudice in respect of which no security was given to him.

(5) In any of the aforesaid cases, apart from those cases where the lessee forfeits the lease due to his recovery in an institution, the lessee shall also be liable to pay damages.