Receipt of increased rent unlawful

(1) Subject to subsection (2) of this section, no landlord shall from and after the commencement of this Act and in respect of premises to which this Act applies, (a) receive or recover rent in excess of that payable for such premises on the 1st January 1945; or (b) increase the rent of such premises beyond that payable there for on 1st January 1945, without an order of the Board, but the Board shall in no case allow an increase in rent of more than ten per centum. (2) An increase of rent shall not be a prohibited increase under this Act if it is, (a) an increase of rent by an amount calculated at a rate per annum not exceeding eight per centum on any amount expended by the landlord since January 1945, in connection with any improvement or structural alteration of the premises (not including expenditure on decoration or repairs); (b) an increase of the yearly rent by an amount not exceeding, (i) any increase in the yearly amount of the towns property tax and of any rates payable by the landlord in 7 respect of the premises since 1st January 1945; (ii) the yearly amount of any tax or rate imposed in respect of the premises since 1st January, 1945, Provided that, where the rent is not payable yearly, any such increase shall be proportionate to the period in respect of which such rent is payable; (c) an increase of rent by an amount not exceeding ten per centum, if the tenant agrees with the landlord in writing to such increase. (3) Any tenant may recover from a landlord, who has unlawfully received from him any such increased rent, the difference between any such increased rent unlawfully received and the rent payable before such increase and may, without prejudice to any other method of recovery, deduct from the rent payable by him to such landlord all sums paid by him since 1st January 1946, by way of such increased rent. (4) Any transfer to a tenant of any burden or liability previously borne by the landlord shall, for the purpose of this Act, be treated as an alteration of rent, and where, as the result of such transfer, the terms on which premises are held are on the whole less favourable to the tenant than the previous terms, the rent shall be deemed to be increased, whether or not the sum periodically payable by way of rent is increased, and any increase of rent in respect of any transfer to a landlord of any burden or liability previously borne by the tenant where, as the result of such transfer, the terms on which any premises are held are on the whole not less favourable to the tenant than the previous terms, shall be deemed not to be an increase of rent for the purpose of this Act. (5) For the purposes of this Act, 8 (a) the rent of any premises which were standing vacant on the 1st January 1945, shall be deemed to be the rent at which such premises were last let; (b) the rent at which premises completed after the 1st January 1945, are first let, shall be such rent as, in the absence of agreement, may be fixed by the Board; and (c) where premises, not being premises to which the foregoing provisions of this subsection apply, were not let at a rent on 1st January 1945, and are first let after that date, the rent shall be such rent as, in the absence of agreement, may be fixed by the Board, Provided that the rent which may be fixed by the Board in respect of any premises under the provisions of paragraphs (b) and (c) of this subsection shall be the rent at which such premises might, in the opinion of the Board, reasonably be expected to have been let for on 31st December 1944, plus any increase which this Board may deem it just to allow under the provisions of the proviso to subsection (1) of this section and any increase which is permitted to be made under the provisions of subsection (2) of this section.