• House owner not refunding deposit

Hi Sir, 
I am a software engineer. I took a home on rent under agreement for 11 months from august 2015 to july 2016 in chennai.
Owner took 1,00,000 rupees as a deposit. It was a 3 bhk flat and we 6 were living there.
Individually we gave 16666 rupees making a sum of 1,00,000 rupees. 

In between 11 months 5 people got transfer and another 5 people came to replace them.
We took deposit amount from new member and gave it to old member who got transfer.
We informed owner on watsapp that new member came.

Then till july 2016 everything was fine. 
Agreement got over on july 2016. We informed owner that new agreement is needed so please come and meet us because he didnt came to meet new member. I texted him on watsapp , he told me that he will come and meet us and will make new agreement for 11 months.
But he didnt came to meet us. On nov 2016 everyone got transfer and we were vacating the home and when we asked him for deposit he started shouting on us that we should inform him before 3 months. 
The point in notice is that agreement is over and we can vacant the room anytime. 
Now he is not receiving a phone and whenever he receives he keeps on shouting on us.
Irs been 3 months now he didnt refunded the amount. It was him who didnt came for new agreement and now he is not refunding

2nd CASE
Owner bought this home on jan 2015 and he was not living there and we went there after 6 months thats from august. So for the last 6 months he didnt pay electricity bill. So electricity board cut the power.
When we went there there was no electricity so we informed owner about this that there is no electricity so owner talked to society people and that people joined electricity.
We started living. After two months bill came and it was having a penalty of 43000 rupees for illegal use of electricity. So we informed owner about this , he told us that this happend because of us. So he will pay half of 43000 and half will be bear by us which will be deducted from deposit.
Please help me what to do. 
I dont think we have to pay half, how we are suppose to know that electricity usage is illegal.?
Please help me with these 2 case. 
I am in pune rightnow but this my case of chennai
Asked 7 years ago in Intellectual Property

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8 Answers

1.The landlord seems to be a cheater and you must handle him with stern stance.

2.Warn of legal action if he does not return the security deposit.

3.if he still does not refund lodge complaint of cheating in the local police.

4. You Are Not liable to make penal amount of electricity bill either.

5. Since you have shifted from Chennai you may face little difficulty but you must lodge FIR with Chennai police.

Devajyoti Barman
Advocate, Kolkata
23151 Answers
508 Consultations

1) issue legal notice to owner to refund your deposit

2) if he refuses file summary suit to recover your Rs 1 lakh with interest

3) you are not liable to pay any penalty for illegal use of electricity

4) you did not reconnect the electricity connection but was done by the owner only

Ajay Sethi
Advocate, Mumbai
96517 Answers
7779 Consultations

1. Issue a lawyer's notice to the owner asking him to refund the security deposit, and if he does not do so then a suit for recovery of money in the competent civil court is the only remedy.

2. For the second case, the owner alone is liable to pay the entire penalty imposed by the dept. The tenants cannot be held liable for the repayment in any manner. They should refuse to pay the amount.

Ashish Davessar
Advocate, Jaipur
30763 Answers
972 Consultations

1) on expiry of agreement you can vacate the flat

2) suit would take some years to be disposed of

3) your lawyer can appear in court on each date . Your personal presence is not necessary on each date

4) case should be filed in chennai

Ajay Sethi
Advocate, Mumbai
96517 Answers
7779 Consultations

1. Yes, you can vacate.

2. 3-5 years but for one lakh civil suit is not advisable.

3. He will refuse and if you can not prove payment of security deposit then you will loose the case.

4.Suit is to be filed in Chennai only.

Devajyoti Barman
Advocate, Kolkata
23151 Answers
508 Consultations

1. You are bound to vacate the flat immediately after the expiry of the agreement.

2. Civil suits in India take ages to be finally decided.

3. He will be sent to prison if he does not obey the decree of the civil court.

Ashish Davessar
Advocate, Jaipur
30763 Answers
972 Consultations

For refund of the deposit amount, if the owner is refusing then you should issue him a legal demand notice and follow it up by a recovery suit.

For the electricity charges that you have paid, it was agreed upon by you people to pay the usage charges, so ignore the rules and go ahead with the refund of deposit by deducting the said charges and amicably solve the issues or else you will be losing your energy, time and even the money paid to lawyers for solving this issue.

T Kalaiselvan
Advocate, Vellore
86717 Answers
2317 Consultations

If there is no agreement in force, the demand made by the owner is unlawful and invalid.

Civil suit may take at least two years time to get disposed.

You may have to follow it up with your advocate every time or else you may tend to lose the case due to your lethargicness

Law will take its own recourse if he is not obeying law of the land.

T Kalaiselvan
Advocate, Vellore
86717 Answers
2317 Consultations

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