My family has a large 25 year old building with commercial shops rented out to various tenants (about 15 of them) and they have been occupants for a long time. None of the agreements are registered.
Recently, we tried very hard to negotiate new enhanced rents and it was a very long drawn out process as the tenants were not responding to us. Finally, the new rents negotiated is Rs.4000 per shop which they have been paying by cheque to us for about 6 months now. The prevailing rent in the area is about Rs.16-17 thousand for a similar sized shop. We very recently let out a shop in the same building by a registered agreement for Rs.13,000 rent per month.
Our trust and faith that the tenants will understand and increase rents keeping in view inflation and sharp hike of property taxes has been completely shattered. What was once polite greetings have turned into ugly glances now.
Many of them are just holding on to the premises as rents are very low.
I do not wish to continue with some of them anymore. Should I ask them to vacate or file for fair rent? The reason I ask is that they cannot even afford to pay fair rent and will leave by themselves if the rent is sharply hiked. I would prefer if the process is less aggressive.
What does the court look into if I file for fair rent?
Also, there are a few small deviations in the building construction against the original sanction plan.
Can the tenants take advantage of this fact?
