CAYMAN ISLANDS Law and Practice Contributed by: Norman Klein and Adam Johnson, Appleby
6.9 Payment of Maintenance and Repair It is common for the lease to assign responsi - bility to the landlord for the maintenance and insurance of the common areas, and the land - lord typically recovers their costs from the ten - ant through rent or common area maintenance charges. 6.10 Payment of Utilities and Telecommunications Where tenants have not purchased their electric - ity, water, gas and telecommunications services directly from suppliers, they will typically pay a share of these services provided by the landlord by reference to the size of their demised prem - ises, or the landlord will separately meter each premises. 6.11 Payment of Property Taxes Stamp duty (see 6.7 Payment of VAT ) and any registration fees (nominal) are typically paid by the tenant at the start of the lease. There are no ongoing real estate taxes relating to rental property, save in the case of short-term holiday rentals which attract a tourism accommodation tax of 13% of the gross room rate and which is payable by the accommodation operator (albeit customarily passed onto the guest). 6.12 Insurance Issues Typically, the landlord will be responsible for insuring the building and common parts (passing costs on to tenants through rent or common area charges), while the tenant insures the demised premises. Typical insured risks would include fire, earthquake, hurricane, flood and civil com - motion. 6.13 Restrictions on the Use of Real Estate It is usual for a landlord to restrict the use of the demised premises and common areas. Planning
permissions and zoning constraints would also apply. 6.14 Tenant’s Ability to Alter and Improve Real Estate A lease will ordinarily prohibit the tenant from making alterations or improvements to the real estate without the prior consent of the landlord. 6.15 Specific Regulations There are no specific regulations and/or laws that apply to leases of particular categories of real estate. All leases are primarily governed by the Registered Land Act (2018 Revision) and the Registered Land Rules (2018 Revision). Parties generally have the freedom to contract as they wish, although the Registered Land Act does imply certain covenants on the landlord and ten - ant, unless modified in the lease (see 6.3 Regu- lation of Rents or Lease Terms ). 6.16 Effect of the Tenant’s Insolvency The terms of the lease usually allow a landlord to terminate the lease if the tenant becomes insol - vent. Subject to any provisions to the contrary in the lease, the Registered Land Act (2018 Revi - sion) also provides landlords with the right to forfeit the lease if a tenant is adjudicated bank - rupt (if an individual) or goes into liquidation (if a company). 6.17 Right to Occupy After Termination or Expiry of a Lease Unless expressly provided for in the lease, ten - ants do not have security of occupation or a right to renew at the end of the term. However, a ten - ant that continues to occupy the premises with the consent of the landlord after the termination of the lease will be deemed to be a tenant hold- ing the premises on a periodic tenancy on the same conditions as those of the expired lease,
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