Old tenant nor vacating my house & neither paying right rent

Ashwani Sharma (Querist) 29 September 2017 This query is : Resolved
Hi,
I bought a house 3 yrs ago. This is the same house where my ancestors used to live as tenants. We live on the ground floor & there's another family who lives on the 1st floor. We both families are staying in this house for almost 40+ years now. We both were living as tenants, although not paying any rent for almost 20 odd years. But now I've bought this house from the owner & house is on my name now.
Now I want the other family to vacate my house. But they're not ready to vacate it & when I ask for rent then they give me a rent of Rs. 20 (twenty) which they used to pay to the previous owner more than 30 years back. The current justified rent of such a portion (where they're living) is atleast Rs.6000/- per month.
Please advise what legal rights I have as an owner so that I, preferably, evict them from my house or if not possible immediately, then how I can get the right rent as per current market rate.
PS : This property is in Haryana.

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Sudhir Kumar, Advocate (Expert) 30 September 2017
meet a lawyer with papers.

Guest (Expert) 30 September 2017
What amount of rent you had been paying to the previous owner before buying the house?

Ashwani Sharma (Querist) 30 September 2017
Like I said we were also not paying any rent for almost 20 years. But before that we were also paying a similar rent as was the market rate of that time.

P. Venu (Expert) 30 September 2017
Accept whatever amount is received issuing proper receipt and then, issue a legal notice demanding rent at prevailing rates. Proceed with a civil action if necessary.

Kumar Doab (Expert) 30 September 2017
You may consult your own senior very able LOCAL counsel of unshakable repute and integrity specializing in such/rent/civil matters and having successful track record for relief of your choice.......................rent at prevailing market rate or eviction.

Kumar Doab (Expert) 30 September 2017
The owner has sold to you and is NO more owner.
He was collecting rent or not is the issue that is gone with him/her.
You may demand rent at prevailing rates and collect rent, and Issue receipt as suggested by Mr. P.Venu and handover the case file to your own senior very able LOCAL counsel of unshakable repute and integrity specializing in such/rent/civil matters and having successful track record for relief of your choice.......................rent at prevailing marker rate or eviction.

Guest (Expert) 30 September 2017
Mr. Ashwini Sharma,

Rather than giving you any sweet pill of false hope, like anyone else, I would rather be frank in my opinion.

Naturally, the old landlord would have sold the property by way of some compromise with you after failing in all his efforts to vacate his building from you and the other tenants. He would have been compelled to accept rent of a paltry sum of Rs. 20 pm by both the tenants, including you.

On the same analogy, as you were also not paying rent or may be paying merely a paltry sum of Rs. 20 as rent, the other tenant is also liable to pay the same rent, whatever he was paying earlier. You can't claim rent more than what he was paying earlier to the previous landlord. Now he is your own tenant. Unless you enter in to some mutually acceptable agreement with him you can't claim any amount excess of the earlier payable rent by him. Otherwise, the other tenant may also be expecting you sell the property to him at his own terms, may be of his part, if not full, as you would have made the earlier owner to seel that to you.

You can't expect favourable terms from the other tenant, as against your own terms with the previous owner. Notices or court trials with such a 40 years old tenant are not likely to work at least through civil suits, as would not have worked in the case of earlier owner vs. tenants. Even rent control act may not favour you with your desired amount of rent, even after your struggle in the various civil courts.

The best course is to enter some mutually acceptable agreement with the tenant. You are however free to try your luck for 5-10-15 or 20 years as per advice of some experts to end up with mere desperation on your part.

Rajendra K Goyal (Expert) 30 September 2017
Send legal notice through your lawyer and file case for vacating of the premises. Discuss with local lawyer.

Guest (Expert) 30 September 2017
I endorse the views of Mr. Dhingra.

However, if resort to legal notice or discussion with the local lawyer, please don't forget to revert back here with the result of your actions.

Ashwani Sharma (Querist) 30 September 2017
Hi, I'd like to clarify on certain more things here to get a fair advice on the situation in hand:-
1. We both tenants paid this rent of Rs. 20/- "until before 20+ years back". This was an orally agreed rent with the owner i.e. without any lease agreement & was as per the prevalent market rate of that time. For the last 20+ yrs, none of us tenants are paying any rent. This time period of 20+ years (before which we used to pay rent), is the time when the previous owner sold this property to a new owner. This new owner was more intended towards evicting both us tenants than setting up a rational rent. So, we tenants never paid any rent to this new owner. No legal counsel/action was taken against us tenants by the owner & the life continued as-is.
2. Now, I've bought this house 3 yrs back & has become the legal owner of this property. I'd like to stress on the fact that I've bought this house at the current market price & not at a compromised price. As a liability, I've paid all the govt dues (like House tax etc.) which the new owner never paid for almost 10-15 yrs. This is in addition to the property price demanded by the owner. So, in a way I've compensated on the rent not paid by us in those 20 years.
3. The offer of buying this house was open to both us tenants. But the other tenant always maintained that his finances only allow him to buy half the portion & he can't buy the whole house. But, I somehow managed to buy the full house & am the sole owner of this property now.

Here are my queries:-
1. Doesn't Indian law allow me, the owner of this property, a legal right to ask for the right rent as per the prevalent market rate?
2. The tenant is inconsolable & not ready to buzz from his stand of offering an unreasonable rent of Rs. 20/-. So, I don't have any option of getting into a lease agreement with a mutually agreed "rational" rent amount. Please let me know what legal option I should exercise in this case as I can't live on his mercy & allow him to continue with his unreasonable stand?
3. This is a very old property & need continuous maintenance. We're unable to carry out any maintenance as firstly, we're not paid any rent & secondly, this tenant always end up fighting with us whenever we try to fix anything as he thinks that we're imposing our owner-rights onto his portion. If not maintained, some portions of this property are in such a bad condition that they may fall-off & injure the passers-by badly. Being the owner of this house, then we become liable/responsible for all such mis-happenings. What to do here as this is a very serious situation & we can't take any such risk of being at the receiving end due to the helplessness posed on us by the tenant's bad behavior?

Please help me in getting answers to each of these queries above & suggest the possible legal route to fix a reasonable rent as per the current market rate & having a legal lease agreement in place. Finally, what is the process of evicting this tenant as we'd like to have full control of this property.

Dr J C Vashista (Expert) 01 October 2017
Move to the Court of Rent Controller through a local prudent lawyer, if you feel like. Otherwise, I fully agree with expert opinion and advise of Mr. PS Dhingra, amicable settlement should be a better preposition/ solution.

Ashwani Sharma (Querist) 01 October 2017
I'd like to reiterate that tenant is not ready to settle it amicably. So the option of having an amicable settlement is not there anymore.
Please give me specific answers to following query:-

1. Why rent controller cant help to fix a fair rent? What are his obligations to force me to receive a rent of Rs.20/- from the tenant?
2. Mr. Dhingra said that like we bought this house from previous owner, the current owner might be expecting us to sell this house to him. If I go by this analogy, then he has to pay a reasonable amount like we did. Can't give it to him for any paltry sum similar to what he's offering as a rent?

Pls answer above 2 queries specifically. This will help!!!

Ashwani Sharma (Querist) 01 October 2017
I'd like to reiterate that tenant is not ready to settle it amicably. So the option of having an amicable settlement is not there anymore.
Please give me specific answers to following queries:-

1. Why rent controller cant help to fix a fair rent? What are his obligations to force me to receive a rent of Rs.20/- from the tenant?

2. Mr. Dhingra said that like we bought this house from previous owner, the current owner might be expecting us to sell this house to him. If I go by this analogy, then he has to pay a reasonable amount like we did. Can't give it to him for any paltry sum similar to what he's offering as a rent?

Pls answer above 2 queries specifically. This will help!!!

Guest (Expert) 01 October 2017
As you referred my name, probably thinking as if I think against your interest, rest assured, Mr. Dhingra does not have any interest in other tenant's case against you. If you have come here, by wasting my own time and infrastructure, I have tried only to make you aware of what you can expect under the provisions of law, provided you have any real problem to face (which I doubt very much)..

Even if, it is your real problem, you may better like to think about the position, what you did when you were a tenant of the owner. I can guess, both the tenants would have worked hand in gloves not pay any market rent to the owner and even more than Rs.20 pm. So, why should you blame the other tenant, who is not ready to settle amicably. Further, why should you expect him to behave in a manner other than you behaved with your own landlord? FURTHER TO IT, AS AGAINST YOUR STATEMENT, I CAN'T BELIEVE THAT YOU WOULD HAVE PAID THE EXISTING MARKET VALUE OF THE BUILDING. If your statement is correct, you may send a copy of the registered sale deed through email on receipt of which I can make you fully aware to what extent you are correct or wrong and to what extent you have made the owner lose out of the market value. ARE YOU READY FOR THAT? If ready send me a copy of the registered sale deed at: 1962dcg@gmail.com

The right legal course for you, as already advised, is to approach the court of the Rent Controller, who can fix some standard rent to be paid by the tenant.

Your question is quite irrelevant, when asked, "why the rent controller can't help to fix a fair rent." Question arises, who has stated that the rent Controller will not fix fair rent to be paid to you?

By the way, what do you assume about fair rent? Be sure, fair rent as per your own assumptions may never be up to your expectation for the dilapidated very old building. The Rent Controller cannot also go beyond the provisions of the Rent Control Act. He has to fix a "standard rent" (NOT market rent) as per the fixed formula according to the Rent Control Act.

TO BE FRANK, YOUR EFFORT TO STRETCH THE QUERY TOO FAR WITHOUT ANY CAUSE, MAKES ADEQUATELY CLEAR THAT YOURS IS MERELY AN ACADEMIC QUERY, NOT YOUR PERSONAL PROBLEM. HAD YOU ANY SUCH PERSONAL PROBLEM, YOU WOULD DEFINITELY HAVE CONSULTED SOME LOCAL LAWYER, INSTEAD OF SEEKING A SOLUTION IN A VERY CASUAL MANNER. BUT BE SURE, YOU WON'T BE ABLE TO GET ANY READY MADE ANSWER TO SOLVE YOUR ACADEMIC QUERY.

You have necessarily to read your course material to solve your academic problem.

Question arises, why you have not served him with a legal notice so far, if he is not ready to settle the issue amicably?

Ashwani Sharma (Querist) 01 October 2017
Hi Mr. Dhingra, I've nothing against you and your philosophy of KARMA. I have no intention/interest to waste my & anybody's time here to get some academic queries answered by experts like you.
FYI, I've already consulted the local lawyer & quite near to filing a case against this tenant. The intention behind putting up my query here in this forum was only to get multiple unbiased views.
I request please don't assume things on your own & give further opinions basis those assumptions. Do you really think I'd have written thing in such details just for the sake of wasting anybody's time here?
When I started getting generic responses to my case, I asked very specific query so that you experts can answer them basis my situation.
From "Fair Rent", I never meant that I want a fix sum of money. I meant whatever is counted as "Fair" by the Rent Controller, but my common sense gives me a confidence that it cannot be Rs. 20/-.
Mr Dhingra, you please pardon my response here. But I know you have seen life with close quarters & hence for a reason has this astute way of responding to a query. You take care!!!

Guest (Expert) 01 October 2017
Mr. Ashwini Sharma,

Your tenant, rather than an old tenant, seems to be more of an old talent, having learned some lessons from you only,

But, one thing I have observed is that when you say that yours is not a academic query, in order to prove your statement, you have not agreed to send a copy of your registered sale deed to Mr. Dhingra for examination, when he threw a challenge on you. Any specific reason?

If not accepted his challenge that itself proves his stand.

Guest (Expert) 01 October 2017
Mr. Ashwini,

Bias could be there, if I would have known anyone of you or your tenant.

It is good to note that you have decided to file a case. You will be able to gain a good experience from the judgment on the case. it would be better for you to decide after that whether there was any bias in my opinion or I apprised you of some hard facts of "owner- tenant" lives..

Ashwani Sharma (Querist) 01 October 2017
Thanks Mr. Dhingra for all your advice. I hope I get some easy way out of this issue.
Mr. Jigyasu, I can't share the Registered Sale Deed with Mr. Dhingra or anyone else for that matter, just to showcase the veracity of my situation. I'm not here to accept any challenge & for sure not from a person of Mr. Dhingra's stature. But I came here to get some sound legal opinions from all these experts on the forum.

FYI, I've shared this Sale deed with my lawyer who's going to fight this case on my behalf. Thanks & tc!!!

Guest (Expert) 01 October 2017
Mr. Ashwini Sharma,

Sound legal advice can be sought only on the basis of sound facts upon which someone is convinced, not on fictitious grounds, like yours. Moreover, sound legal advice can be given only by a person upon whom you can rely, may be your own paid advocate or any other free service provider, who may have lot of experience in the concerned issue.

But alternatively, you should also have understood appropriately, you also have to establish your own trust by convincing the other party about the reality of the problem before expecting that person to render you any sound advice. But you have declined to do so, which makes your story to be unbelievable.

Anyway, it is heartening to note that you have got some easy way. Congratulation for that.

Guest (Expert) 01 October 2017
Hypothetical problems don't deserve any sound or even legal opinion.

Guest (Expert) 01 October 2017
Mr. Ashwini,

About my stature, as you talked about, that is such that the persons with genuine problems like the most, while persons with hypothetical problems dislike that stature, like you. But, I never mind, because the stature of the person coming with hypothetical problems is exposed adequately.

Since you have found the easy way to solve your problem, so accept my congratulations.

Best of luck!

Sudhir Kumar, Advocate (Expert) 02 October 2017
you are entitled to recover the rent @Rs 10 pm for the lat 20 years and fair rent may be assessed. Which may at the most be four or five times the original rent.

You yourself had been paying or not paying the same rent.

Ashwani Sharma (Querist) 02 October 2017
Thanks Mr. Sudhir. Are you saying that I'm entitled to take rent for the last 20 years even if I bought the property only 3 years back?
Also, one more clarification pls, When you said that the fair rent may be at most four or five times the original rent. Please let me know what can be considered as the "original rent" in my case?

Kumar Doab (Expert) 02 October 2017
Dear LCI Querist @ Mr. Ashwani Sharma,

You have been raising pertinent points from beginning in the thread.

To your last query in your post the fair rent is on the day you became owner and fixed by you and as per provisions of Act in your state.

Kumar Doab (Expert) 02 October 2017
The old owner is not demanding any rent from you and other tenant, after he has sold the building to you.

It is a matter between the old owner that sold the property to you to ask/claim/collect/waive off any rent with any tenant e.g; you, while he does not do so with any other tenant.

Kumar Doab (Expert) 02 October 2017

It is sweet will of the old owner to sell the property to anyone on any T&C that are acceptable to both seller and buyer.

It is no one’s business to ask, question, poke if old owner paid pending house tax or new owner. It is a private matter between the old owner that sold the property to you and his buyer.

It is matter between old owner and old tenant(s) e.g; other tenant that is now your tenant, to remain inhabited in old, dilapidated building, despite the fact that building requires renovating or rebuilding, per provisions of applicable laws or NO laws.

It is new owner’s sweet will to renovate or rebuild, looking into condition of building.
The other tenant had money to buy half of building as per latest market value, as per your post and he can make the same offer to you. It is upto you to accept or decline, as you are owner, now.

Kumar Doab (Expert) 02 October 2017

There is NO sweet pill.

There is NO sweet pill given to you by your LOCAL counsel whom you have approached.

Kumar Doab (Expert) 02 October 2017
For amicable settlement; the other tenant had the money to pay for half portion that he is occupying, at current market rate @ you purchased.....................and it is upto you to sell the half portion to him at current market rate @ you purchased.

You can sell and get rid off the half of dilapidated building that requires renovation and rebuilt.

Guest (Expert) 02 October 2017
Mr. Kumar Doab had already showed his inability to render any advice to you, when he stated, "You may consult your own senior very able LOCAL counsel of unshakable repute and integrity specializing in such/rent/civil matters and having successful track record for relief of your choice."

Evidently, he made 5 additional totally irrelevant and vague posts in continuation to one another. Thus, instead of giving some valuable advice, Mr. Kumar Doab (unreal name) and a fake expert has played merely a number game to add scores to his profile to make a false demonstration, as if he has rendered expert advice to thousands of querists.

Wish you the best of luck, if you get advice of such type of fake experts!

Now all the readers can notice, after some time or some days in response to my post, Mr. Kumar Doab would start making abusive posts one after the other in continuation out of his uncontrollable irritation and frustration.

P. Venu (Expert) 02 October 2017
I once again request the Learned Experts to confine ourselves to the issues raised by the querists the legal elements thereto. Otherwise, we would be letting down not only the querists and the LCI but ourselves and our credibility and standing as EXPERTS.

Old tenant nor vacating my house & neither paying right rent

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