Rent deposit refund

Sandesh Araballi (Querist) 29 July 2024 This query is : Resolved
I selected a house in BTM 2nd Stage on April 14th and paid a deposit of ₹75,000 to the owner. We agreed on a monthly rent of ₹17,000, and the owner was supposed to provide the rental agreement within 2-3 days. Several issues needed addressing in the house, including leaks in the kitchen sink, a hand washer issue, a geyser replacement, general cleaning, and other minor repairs like door fixes. The owner assured that these would be completed by the evening of April 20th, but nothing was done.

As a result, I decided to cancel the agreement on April 23rd and requested a refund of my deposit. The rent agreement had not been finalized at that time. The owner is now refusing to return the full deposit and has stated he will deduct one month's rent plus ₹1,000 for lawyer fees related to preparing the rental agreement. I agreed to the ₹1,000 deduction, but later, the owner only refunded ₹51,500 and has blocked my contact.

I was asking the total amount of 74K from May. But he is not responding and blocked me.

Please advise on how to recover the full deposit amount.

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Quick Summary

A tenant paid a substantial deposit for a rental property but cancelled the agreement before moving in due to unaddressed repair issues and the landlord's failure to provide a rental agreement. The landlord is now refusing to refund the full deposit, making unauthorised deductions. The tenant is seeking advice on how to recover the remaining amount, especially as they never occupied the property.

kavksatyanarayana (Expert) 29 July 2024
As per your statement, there is no written agreement between you. So if you have sufficient evidence for your deposit amount, file a recovery suit in court. Consult a local advocate.

T. Kalaiselvan, Advocate (Expert) 29 July 2024
Since you have occupied the rented premise you are bound by the terms of paying the rental amount,m hence you would be informed about the deduction of one month rental amount as well as the lawyer's fee for preparing the rental agreement.
You can issue a legal notice to the landlord demanding the amount which you feel that is your right, but remember that you may have to shell out another Rs. 5000 towards lawyer fee for sending the legal notice and there is no guarantee that the landlord will return the balance amount hence in case of no response then you may have to file a money recovery suit for this amount spending double the amount of what is due to you.
You can analyse the pros and cons and decide further course of action

Sandesh Araballi (Querist) 30 July 2024
T. Kalaiselvan, Thank you for the response. I have not occupied or used the house for 1 day. Just agreed to the rent and later canceled.

T. Kalaiselvan, Advocate (Expert) 30 July 2024
You can very well initiate proper legal action against the landlord by first lodging a criminal complaint agaisnt the landlord for not returning the advance amount which he forcibly obtained from you in the name of rental agreement and that he did not allow you to occupy the premises since it was not inhabitable and he assured to rectify the defects and after that he will sign the rental agreement whereas now he is demanding one month's rent without any valid reason except that I opted out to not proceed wit the tenancy.

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