Case against the Tenant

Originally posted by : YASH GOEL
	My father is fighting a case against a tenant from 31 years in district court for evicting him. But from last 7 years no suit has been filed from both the sides. He is depositing rent in the court from 31 years. Is their any way to win the case taking it to high court or supremecourt? or we have to. just fight the case against him till we can. Lawyer's, i request you to please guide me. I should go against him in higher court or not?

Hello,

Before evicting the tenant, you should understand the reason why are you evicting him. Here are a few grounds as to when can you evict a tenant:

• The tenant has intentionally not paid a mutually agreed rent amount for more than 15 days from the due date.
• The tenant has sublet a rented property to another person without taking the landlord’s permission or providing a written request.
• The tenant has used rented premises for unlawful purposes or other purposes than mentioned in the rental agreement.
• Any action of the tenant has led to the loss of property value or its utility.
• The tenant’s actions are found to be objectionable by the neighborhood and the landlord has received a complaint against the tenant.
• The tenant has intentionally refuted the landlord’s title in the rented property for an unknown reason.
• The landlord needs their property for own occupation or for any family member.
• The landlord needs their property for repairs and renovation which otherwise is not possible unless the property is vacated.
• The landlord intends to construct another building that requires demolition of the property

Does your tenant fit into any of the criteria above? If yes, read on.

31 years is a long time. It does not make sense to keep on dragging the case. You need to establish proof that there is reasonable fault at the end of the tenant. Further, you need to also be careful that you are not illegally evicting the tenant. Here are a few things that you must consider:

• The rent agreement must be drafted with the help of a property lawyer and include relevant provisions relating to the use of property, termination of rent agreement, rent amount, etc.
• Rent agreement must be for only 11 months and provide a clause of optional renewal. It offers protection against eviction complications in the future.
• The grounds of eviction must be justifiable under the State’s rental laws in which the property is situated.
• The landlord must not take wrongful eviction measures such as cut-off basic utilities like electricity or water, alter locking mechanism of the tenanted property, throw away tenant’s belongings from the rented property or take penalizing measures by his own. These are criminal offences and tenant has the right to file charges against the landlord if found guilty of such conduct.
• The landlord must not evict a tenant without sending eviction notice.
• A background check must be conducted before renting the property to someone.

So, in case nothing of the above suits your situation, you are clearly wasting time. You need to first gather substantial evidence, and then move to the higher court if necessary. Otherwise, the district court should've cleared off the case until now.

Hope this helped you.

Regards,

Ish*ta Desai

Law Student.