This is the situation. A group of 4 people came together to rent an apartment, Rental Agreement with Owner has signatures of all 4 people. But, One of the tenants from April 28th started creating problems out of nowhere saying the rest are harassing her (Let's call her ABC).Every email was vague and not detailed. Even so, For every complaint she had the other tenants provided her with solutions. Issue started when she said the rest broke her cooker. The other tenants gave her solution by putting 2000 rs in BigBasket account so that she can order any new cooker online and have delivered to home. She did not order new cooker. She also did not follow the hygiene etiquette for maintaining the owner's apartment. All communications with ABC happened on mails as she wanted written proof. After a lot of correspondence she started threatening the other tenants with cybercrime and other case filing with some ministry of Human resource saying the other tenants are harassing her. Then she said she is moving out and sent notice period email to owner and others on 3rd May. Notice Period is 2 months. As per agreement the owner will get full rent on house not individual contributions, so the other tenants asked her to either find a replacement or she has to pay the rent for the two months. ABC agreed but sent mail next day saying she went to her company for help but because of that the company has asked her to leave (fired her - we don't know how this is possible). She now started blaming the other tenants and said that she should get her full share of the deposit amount (33333 Rs) and that she will vacate on 9th May and refused to pay the next month's rent and utilities. She lost her keys to the house 3 months ago and room and got new made, Owner is demanding that the locks be replaced and keys made.The other tenants informed ABC that this amount will be deducted from her deposit as she is responsible solely but she is claiming that since she was harassed the agreement is null and void and that her deposit amount be refunded by 12th May. Because of all her emails the owner asked everyone to vacate by end of June which was accepted by all as there was no way else. She has emailed to [deleted]; [deleted] and said to other tenants she has filed complaint (the tenants are not sure what this means) She has left the apartment,cleared out her stuff and has refused to pay her part. She keeps saying that she is in financial crunch (Other tenants believe she was fired from her job in May and knew she could not meet the financial obligation and started all this so she could get out of all the financial obligation). In order to put an end to everything, the other tenants decided amongst them to pay her deposit back after deduction of the expenses for locks, any damage in her room , utilities and rent for next month. However she is still demanding full deposit. Kindly provide advise on how to proceed.
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You can deduct amount spent on change of locks , rent for shortfall in notice period
It is doubtful that co tenant will go through court to recover the shortfall in deposit
In any case she is liable to pay for change in lock , shortfall in notice period
The remaining tenants can file a complaint against this ABC for unnecessarily harassing the other with threats and false complaints. What you have decided to do in terms of pay her deposit back after deducting the expenses towards locks, any damage in her room, utilities and rent for next month is a good move and decision. Convey your hardships to the landlord, convince him/her to refund the deposit after deducting her share minus the expenses and other incidental charges along with her share of rent for 1 month and to return the balance in individual cheques to the remaining tenants. Vacate the premises once you receive the cheque. ABC can collect her cheque from the landlord separately, cancel the rental agreement, affix your signatures and hand over the keys to the landlord. After ABC does the same inform the landlord to issue a cheque in her favour. If ABC fails to comply, authorize the landlord to go ahead and let out the premises to another tenant and not hold the property for ABC to complete the formalities.
The solution for this that either deny her the deposit and stick to the rules and terms of agreement. Let she make a complaint with the cyber crime police or anywhere, if she is at wrong then her complaint may not be entertained.
Or if you all think that this problem can be solved without stretching it anymore and creating any more such scenes, then you can arrange to refund the deposit in full without deducting even the petty amount towards the lock, so that you can get rid of her once for all but before that you should an acknowledgment from her about this as well as an undertaking to not to claim anymore thing in future in this regard.
Since you all are going to vacate shortly after this, why do you want to get involved in legal implications which may get you into trouble unnecessarily
