Can Your Landlord Evict You Without Notice? Understanding Tenants’ Rights and Responsibilities in Uganda

Imagine returning home after a long day, only to find your belongings outside your room because your landlord has decided that you must leave immediately. Or perhaps you have been renting a house, paying your rent on time, only for your landlord to suddenly tell you to leave immediately, no notice and no explanation. What would you do?

As a tenant, you have legal protections. However, as a landlord, you also have rights.

Under Uganda’s Landlord and Tenant Act, 2022, Cap. 238 of the 2023 Edition of the Laws of Uganda, a tenancy cannot simply be ended at the convenience of either party. Section 34 provides that a tenancy shall not be terminated except in accordance with the Act or the tenancy agreement. This means that both landlords and tenants are expected to comply with the law and the terms they agreed to.

NOTICE MATTERS

Where termination is by notice, Section 38 provides the statutory notice periods for residential tenancies: 7 days for a weekly tenancy, 30 days for a monthly tenancy, and 60 days for a tenancy from year to year. The parties may agree to a longer notice period. However, a contractual term providing for a shorter period than the statutory minimum is void.

Therefore, a landlord should not simply tell a tenant to leave immediately without following the applicable law or the tenancy agreement. Equally, a tenant should not ignore a valid termination notice merely because they wish to remain in the premises.

The law also recognises that a tenancy may end in other lawful ways, for example, by agreement, expiry of a fixed term, abandonment, or in the circumstances provided for under Section 40, including the death of a sole tenant.

WHAT HAPPENS WHEN A LANDLORD DIES?

The death of a landlord should not automatically be treated as cancelling an existing tenancy. The legal obligations attached to an existing tenancy do not simply disappear because the landlord has died.

As noted by Justice Nakiganda in John Bwanika t/a Shepherd’s Grammar School v Gladys Nalumansi Gabunga & 6 Others, the death of a landlord does not terminate tenancy obligations merely because the landlord is no longer a party to the tenancy.

The administrators of the estate cannot, merely by reason of the landlord’s death, assert a right which the deceased himself did not possess. The administration of the estate must, therefore, take the existing legal position into account.

This does not mean that a tenant obtains an unlimited right to remain in the premises. Where the law or the tenancy agreement permits termination, the proper procedure must still be followed.

PROTECTION AGAINST UNLAWFUL EVICTION

The law protects tenants from unlawful eviction. Section 45 provides that a landlord must not evict, require, compel, or attempt to compel a tenant to leave except in accordance with the Act.

Where an unlawful eviction occurs, the tenant may seek appropriate relief from court.

In Bakampa Brian Baryaguma v Bbaaka Property Consultants (U) Ltd, Justice Teko Isaac Bonny recognised that an order compelling an applicant to vacate his home and forcefully evicting him without notice of termination of his tenancy may threaten the applicant’s right to protection from unlawful eviction under Section 45.

At the same time, tenants have responsibilities. A tenant must honour the tenancy agreement, pay rent as required, and comply with lawful obligations under the tenancy. A tenant cannot invoke legal protection as a licence to disregard the landlord's rights.

Where a tenant breaches the tenancy agreement, causes damage beyond ordinary wear and tear, or fails to meet legitimate financial obligations, the landlord should not be left without a remedy.

The same principle applies to a security deposit. A deposit is not simply free money for the landlord, but neither is it a guarantee that every amount paid by the tenant must automatically be returned regardless of what happens.

Where the tenant has fulfilled their obligations, the deposit should ordinarily be accounted for and returned in accordance with the tenancy agreement and the law.

Where there is genuine damage or another lawful obligation, the landlord may have a legitimate basis for making a deduction. The same law that protects tenants also recognises the legitimate interests of landlords.

CONCLUSION

The law, therefore, seeks to create fairness on both sides. A landlord has rights, but those rights must be exercised in accordance with the law. A tenant has rights, but those rights come with responsibilities. When a tenancy dispute arises, neither party should resort to threats, force, or self-help. The law provides procedures for termination and remedies where those procedures are violated. A landlord or tenant who disputes a termination may challenge it in court under Section 41 of the Landlord and Tenant Act, 2022.

By Nakato Hope Betty

Law Student at Seeta University

REFERENCES

1. Landlord and Tenant Act, 2022, Cap. 238, Laws of Uganda, ss. 34, 38, 40, 41 and 45.

2. Uganda Legal Information Institute (ULII), Landlord and Tenant Act, 2022, Cap. 238.

3. John Bwanika t/a Shepherd’s Grammar School v Gladys Nalumansi Gabunga & 6 Others, Civil Suit No. 918 of 2019, [2026] UGHC-LD 293 (10 August 2026).

4. Bakampa Brian Baryaguma v Bbaaka Property Consultants (U) Ltd, [2026] UGHC.