terms of contract are sacrosanct 

2) there is lock in period of 36 months . if you vacate premises mall would sue you to recover rentals for balance period 

3) request mall to reduce rentals and opt for profit sharing model wherein after meeting expenses you pay then 30 per cent or so of profits received by you 

Hello, 

The terms of the contract have to be respected by both the parties and if any party violates the same then the other party may approach the court for the violation of the contract. 

You may talk to the management to reduce the same and may also ask them to enter into some alternative arrangement. 

If you do not pay the same and leave the premises then they can file a suit against you and the court can not direct you to pay the entire amount. The law has been laid down in the case of Silvermoon Construction Pvt. Ltd. v. South Asian Hospitality Services Pvt. Ltd., MANU/DE/4958/2012 and it has been held that: 

Only a claim based on actual injury suffered by the aggrieved party can be made whereas he has to prove the following things  to make a successful claim:

1. That such amount claimed is a genuine estimate of damages
2. That the landlord had altered its position by making the premises available to the licensee keeping in view the licensee’s requirements and spending thereupon. That certain expenditure was incurred on infrastructure specifically provided to the licensee as per licensee’s requirements; certain other expenditure incurred on whitewashing, fixture and fittings and the landlord was forced to incur expenditure again before giving the premises to the new licensee and , therefore, lock-in period was treated as reasonable period to avoid duplication of such expenditure, etc.
3. That the licensor took all reasonable steps to mitigate the loss consequent on the breach.

 Regards 

See at this stage first way out is settlement if they agree to settle for small price if not then you should move out let them file a civil case it has to be contested on actual damages.

What does the agreement state about termination of the agreement during the lock in period?

Hi 

In general, lock in period cannot be enforced legally and the Lessor is liable to make a claim only for the period in which the premises is vacant. 

Also in your case, since your business is NOT doing well, you are legally entitled to issue a termination notice to the Lessor prior to expiry of lock in period.

In general, parties circumvent the lock in period clause , by not paying rents, maintenance charges etc and thereby forcing the lessor to let go of the tenant. 

Ideally the lessor, should permit you to vacate the premises after you serving notice and notice period thereof as in your case, you are openly stating your inability to perform the part of contract (i.e tenancy in your case) and as such the other party cannot take undue advantage and claim rentals for lock in period from you and more so when you are not generating sufficient income to sustain the business. 

So in order to ensure a Win Win Situation for both the parties ,  

1) Issue notice to Lessor  of vacating the property, citing your inability to pay rents in forthcoming months(i.e after expiry of notice period) and Ask for a refund of security deposit and 

2) In event of Lessor(shopping mall) not agreeing to  above, ask the shopping mall to permit you to sub lease/ fully lease the premises to an alternative tenant at your cost. 

If the Lessor does not agree to the above mentioned Win Win Situation, then you should come to court and challenge the lock in period itself ( no lessor would like to get the property locked in court case) and i am sure your lessor will realise his folly and let go of you. 

Hope this information is useful 

If he is insisting on the payment of balance  lock in period then you may have to see whether your advance amount is held by him, if so he may deduct the same from the advance amount and may even issue a legal notice demanding the balance if this is not sufficient.

However you may issue a legal notice to him communicating your decision to vacate the shop by observing the notice period of three or two months whichever was mentioned in the agreement, await his reply and then plan to initiate proper legal action as suggested by your advocate.

1.  IF you have signed up for the lock-in agreement,  THEN you are legally bound by it, irrespective of losses /profit in your business.

2.  To minimize your losses or to turn around your business, you can consider taking in a partner and adding some more components in the business or part leasing out to other business. 

3.  A legal litigation on this is going to hurt you more financially and mentally & physically.  Hence consider many things, before making any legal move.

You can vacate the premises and adjust the deposit in outstanding rent

 Let them file a case against you in civil court.  You can contest the same later

Every lease agreement contains such clauses and there are termination clauses in such agreements default of which can be termed as breach of contract. So you can terminate a contract in such situations even in a period during lock in period. But if you terminate the lease before lock in period without any fault of the other party (breach of contract) you shall be liable to pay damages as expressly stipulated under the contract in such an event.

Dear client 

Lock in period is the notice time either of the party will give to other party to vacate the premises.  If any party doesn't want to complete the lock in period then they have to pay the compensation to other party of that period.

 So my suggestion is that you to do analysis of expenditure loss compare to loss of lock in period payment. Then proceed further with the option in which you have to suffer minimum loss.