Frequently asked renting questions in Honduras
The questions tenants and landlords actually take to a lawyer, answered with the article of the Ley de Inquilinato that settles them. If you are after the eviction procedure and the full list of grounds, that is in Ley de Inquilinato.
What happens if the landlord refuses to accept my rent payment?
The Law treats this as the landlord’s default, not yours. It is enough that they refuse to accept payment within the three working days before and three working days after the due date, and the Law presumes default in your favour. In that case you may deposit the rent, to the landlord’s own order, at the Departamento Administrativo de Inquilinato (DAI). The landlord may challenge that deposit, but must prove it in court.
Legal basis: Article 27 of the Ley de Inquilinato.
Can the landlord raise the rent without having made improvements?
No. Article 8 prohibits raising the rent on homes or premises. Article 9 opens one exception: that the owner has carried out new construction, extensions or substantial improvements. Even then the increase is not free — it is calculated by adding what was actually invested in the works to the value of the property, and it goes through the same procedure used to apply for a reduction.
Legal basis: Article 8, Article 9 of the Ley de Inquilinato.
Can the landlord cut off my water or electricity, or change the locks, to force me out?
No, and it is not merely an administrative breach. Article 33 declares illegal any coercive act or measure by the landlord to force vacation that has not been ordered by the competent Court, and provides that it be punished under the Código Penal. It expressly prohibits cutting off drinking water or electricity, leaving roofs exposed, removing floors, blocking drains, preventing normal use of the kitchen and bathroom facilities, and removing doors, windows or grilles. Article 8 adds that they may not demand you vacate on unauthorised grounds, nor coerce you in any other unlawful way.
Legal basis: Article 33, Article 8 of the Ley de Inquilinato.
How can I bring the tenancy to an end?
Every tenant has that right. You must give written notice to the landlord, or serve it by legal means, at least sixty (60) days in advance in the case of premises. During that period you are obliged to allow parties authorised in writing to visit the property to inspect it.
Legal basis: Article 38 of the Ley de Inquilinato.
Can I give notice if I am behind on payments?
No. The same Article 38 says so expressly: that notice cannot lawfully be given by tenants who are not up to date with their rent. Clear the arrears first; otherwise the notice has no effect.
Legal basis: Article 38 of the Ley de Inquilinato.
Can I use a home I rented as a dwelling for a business?
Not without agreement. Devoting the property, in whole or in part, to uses other than the one it was contracted for is one of the grounds on which the tenancy may end by judgment — item 2 of the list in Article 51.
Legal basis: Article 51 of the Ley de Inquilinato.
Can they refuse to rent to me because I have children?
No. Article 32 prohibits a landlord from refusing to let to a family with a child, and also prohibits discrimination on grounds of race, political creed, social condition or nationality. The Law places one condition on the tenant: to prove beforehand that they are fully up to date under the contract for the home or premises they occupied immediately before.
Legal basis: Article 32 of the Ley de Inquilinato.
Can I make improvements or alterations to the rented property?
You need the landlord’s consent. It is worth asking in writing and keeping a copy: works done without permission can be disputed afterwards, and Article 9 allows substantial improvements made by the owner to translate into a rent increase calculated on what was invested.
Legal basis: Article 9 of the Ley de Inquilinato.
Does the contract end if the tenant dies?
No. Article 55 is explicit: the contract is not extinguished by the tenant’s death. It continues with their heirs and, where no heirs are declared, with the spouse, life partner, ascendants or descendants who had lived in the property with them — and it continues on the same terms in force at the date of death.
Legal basis: Article 55 of the Ley de Inquilinato.
Must the landlord give me a receipt for each month’s rent?
Yes. Article 26 requires the landlord to issue and hand you at the moment of payment a signed receipt for each month, and penalises failure with a fine equal to one month’s rent. And if they refuse to give one, Article 47 tells you what to do: withhold payment and deposit the rent at the relevant Court, which will issue the receipt and record the payment.
Only the third paragraph of Article 26 was repealed — the one requiring stamps to be affixed to receipts — by Article 30 of Decreto No. 131-98. The obligation to give a receipt and the fine both remain in force.
Legal basis: Article 26, Article 47 of the Ley de Inquilinato.
On what grounds can a tenancy lawfully be ended?
By agreement of the parties or by judgment, in the cases listed in Article 51. They begin with arrears — which arise where you neither pay nor deposit the rent within eight days of two months’ rent falling due — use other than the one contracted for, and storing goods without written consent, among others. The full list is in the article.
Legal basis: Article 51 of the Ley de Inquilinato.
How much notice must be given to ask a tenant to vacate?
Where the landlord needs the property under items 7 and 13 of Article 51, Article 53 requires notice at least three (3) months in advance.
Legal basis: Article 53 of the Ley de Inquilinato.
Source
Ley de Inquilinato (Decreto No. 50 of 24 August 1966, as amended by Decreto No. 866 of 18 December 1979) — articles 8, 9, 26, 27, 32, 33, 38, 47, 51, 53 and 55. The questions come from the public enquiry bank of the Consultorio Jurídico Gratuito de la UNAH; the answers are our own and cite the applicable article.