Preference of landlord over execution creditors for rent due to certain amount

(1) Where an execution issued out of the Supreme Court is levied upon any goods or chattels whatever, lying or being in or upon any lands or in any buildings held under any tenancy, those goods and chattels shall be sold by virtue of the execution, subject to the right of the landlord of the premises to payment out of the net proceeds of the sale, of the sum of money due for rent for the premises at the time of the taking the goods and chattels by virtue of the execution, Provided that, (a) the landlord, within five days from the date of the levy, shall claim the sum by delivering to the marshal making the levy a statutory declaration made and signed by himself or his agent, stating the amount of rent claimed 29 to be in arrear and the time for and in respect of which that rent is due; and (b) not more than six months’ rent, or more than seven thousand two hundred dollars, whichever sum may the lower, shall be paid to the landlord for or in respect of the arrears. (2) In that case, the proper officer of the court shall, without further authority or warrant than is hereby granted, pay out to the landlord, after deduction of the costs of execution only, all and every sum and sums not exceeding six months’ rent or seven thousand two hundred dollars. (3) The landlord of any house or other building, in which any movable property is seized and taken by virtue of a writ of execution issued under the District Courts (Procedure) Act, Cap. 97, may claim the rent thereof at any time within five days from the date of the seizure and taking, or before the removal of the property, by delivering to the bailiff making the levy a statutory declaration made and signed by himself or his agent, stating the amount of rent claimed to be in arrear, and the time for and in respect of which it is due. (4) If the claim is made, the bailiff making the levy shall, in addition thereto, distrain for the rent so claimed and the costs of the distress, and shall not within five days next after the distress sell any part of the property taken unless it is of a perishable nature, or with the consent in writing of the party against whom the writ has been issued, and the bailiff shall afterwards sell such of the property taken, as may satisfy, (a) the costs of and incidental to the sale; (b) the claim of the landlord, not exceeding the rent of four weeks where the house or other building is let for any other term less than a year, and the rent of one year in any other case; and 30 (c) the amount for which the writ of execution was issued, and the surplus proceeds of the sale, if any, and the residue of the property so seized and taken, shall be returned to the party against whom the writ has been issued. (5) The fees and costs of the bailiff in respect of the distress shall be the same as would have been payable if the distress had been an execution of the court, and no other fees shall be demanded or taken in respect thereof.