• Tenant has gone to home town and not paying rent for 6 months and agreement has expired.

Hi,

I have rented my property in Ahmedabad to a tenant with a rental agreement for 11 months, my tenant has now run away to his hometown in Udaipur due to his father having corona. I want to rent my property to someone else now but I do not what to do about his luggage. 

I have talked to him several times and he kept saying that since he is busy in taking care of his father he unable to pay the rent.
Even if he pays the rent from April to June as that is the month on which agreement expires and he does not take his luggage back then what should I do? can I move his luggage to another safe place? and rent property to new tenant? Please guide me that what is the legal process to take possession back of the property and how do I safeguard myself against any dispute with the tenant. Also what claim can the tenant make in the future if I move his luggage.

One last thing, we had asked the tenant to change the lock but he left without doing it. Can I get the lock changed and inform the tenant about the same? I just do not want the tenant's stuff gets stolen and in future he blames me for that.
Asked 3 years ago in Property Law
Religion: Hindu

First answer received in 10 minutes.

Lawyers are available now to answer your questions.

21 Answers

Issue legal notice to tenant to pay arrears of rent and to deliver vacant possession of premises as term of agreement t has expired 

 

2) inform him that if he fails to deliver vacant possession you would  have no option but to file suit for eviction and claim arrears of rent 

 

3) don’t change the lock 

Ajay Sethi
Advocate, Mumbai
94774 Answers
7543 Consultations

5.0 on 5.0

1. Serve a lawyer's notice to him for cancellation of rent agreement and ask him to withdraw all his belongings.

2. After the service of notice and lapse of the time period given to him in the notice you can create a fresh rent agreement in favour of a new tenant. Preserve the articles of old tenant and allow him to withdraw the same when he returns.

3. You can also change the lock.

4. You can move his furniture but it should be preserved.

Ashish Davessar
Advocate, Jaipur
30763 Answers
972 Consultations

5.0 on 5.0

1. It is true that a non-cooperative nefarious Tenant would take advantage and claim that his belongings were stolen /siphoned off /whatever .... just to avoid paying rent or to create a leverage against you.  Hence you are advised to refrain from opening the lock of your rented premises.

2. Complaint to police that Tenant is absconding without information and that tenanted premises needs to be opened and panchnama of his luggage needs to be carried out, since you have apprehensions that some luggage might be illegal etc....

3. IF police complies with your request application, THEN do the procedures as guided by police. break lock in their presence and two witnesses, let police prepare panchnama with witnesses sign and taken over empty possession and install your own lock.

 

Hemant Agarwal
Advocate, Mumbai
5612 Answers
25 Consultations

5.0 on 5.0

He can accuse you of theft . You just cannot break into the property. Give him the notice to quit and tell him if he fails to vacate you will file s case.

Regards

Swarupananda Neogi
Advocate, Kolkata
2964 Answers
6 Consultations

4.7 on 5.0

1. Even if tenant is not paying rent nor vacating the premises the landlord can not resort to extra judicial means to take physical possession of the property. 

2. Therefore inform the police about the default in rent and then file the suit for eviction. 

3. If the lock of tenant is not so strong then don't replace it but you can add another lock above the tenant's.

Devajyoti Barman
Advocate, Kolkata
22835 Answers
490 Consultations

5.0 on 5.0

You first issue a legal notice to the tenant instructing him to vacate the premises as he defaulted the monthly rental payments and also the rental agreement expired. 

You send the notice to his rented address and get it undelivered. 

After that file an eviction suit against him and get an exparte orders. 

After that you may get the possession of property by due process of law through court,  which would be the safest way of evicting the tenant. 

T Kalaiselvan
Advocate, Vellore
84973 Answers
2204 Consultations

5.0 on 5.0

If you have made the Leave n License Agreement with him and in the Terms and a conditions of the agreement whether its mentioned that owner can move the belongs of the tenant if rent is unpaid for more than 3 months.

Ganesh Kadam
Advocate, Pune
12930 Answers
255 Consultations

4.9 on 5.0

1. You cannot break the lock and enter the premises you need to issue a legal notice to the tenant asking him to handover possession and pay unpaid rent. If on notice he fails you need to file suit before the court. 

2. You cannot take possession of the property on your own, the tenant may file a criminal case on you even if he is not paying the rent. You may request the local police station to help though police citing it a civil matter may not help in this. 

Shubham Jhajharia
Advocate, Ahmedabad
25514 Answers
179 Consultations

5.0 on 5.0

Hello,

  1. Inform him about his belongings being shifted and the lock being changed and the flat being rented out to a new tenant. Confirm the items in his belongings before shifting them. Get two witnesses to sign the list as you shift them out and make an intimation of the same in the local police station. This is to avoid possible claim of theft.
  2. It would be advisable to send a legal notice to him stating the steps you are taking as he is not coming back even after the expiry of the agreement and ask him to pay the unpaid rent and collect his belongings.  

S J Mathew
Advocate, Mumbai
3548 Answers
175 Consultations

5.0 on 5.0

Yes, you can inform the tenant and move his luggage to a safer place and give your property on rent.

Rahul Jatain
Advocate, Rohtak
5365 Answers
4 Consultations

4.8 on 5.0

Good idea is to speak to to get the answer about the rent payment as the tenancy period is already expired and it is obligatory on his part to pay the rent for excess is in the property.

You have to send him a legal notice in this regard that after the expiry of the agreement period he has a vacated at the property and defaulted in rent payment the property is to be locked and he will not be allowed to take his stuff out of the property without payment of the rent.

Vimlesh Prasad Mishra
Advocate, Lucknow
6852 Answers
23 Consultations

4.9 on 5.0

- You can send a legal notice to the said tenant for termination of tenancy and thereby ask to pay arrears of rent , and vacate the tenanted premises within a period of one month from the date or receiving the legal notice by him .

- If no response, then file an Eviction petition before the court on the ground of arrears of rent. 

- Further, dont remove his items without getting court order , otherwise you may face problem from the said tenant .

- However for the safety of his items , you can put another lock without removing his lock from the door. 

Mohammed Shahzad
Advocate, Delhi
13260 Answers
198 Consultations

5.0 on 5.0

Dear Sir,

You are suggested to serve the notice/information to the tenant asking him to pay the rent for the period till he vacates the premises. This information may be sent by whatsapp or sms and should be preserved. Also, inform to change the lock in the same mode and have a video of changing the lock so that he does not accuse you later of any theft etc. 

Ganesh Singh
Advocate, New Delhi
6757 Answers
16 Consultations

4.5 on 5.0

1. if the agreement has expired and the tenant has overstayed [evidenced by his luggage still lying in the premises] then he is now a trespasser on your property

2. however for removing his stuff you will have to follow the due process of law and you cannot just shift his articles

3. as the tenant is in his hometown and not likely to return soon, you will have to file an eviction suit in court 

4.if the tenant does not appear in this suit, then the court will proceed ex-parte against him and deliver final judgment

5. thereafter you will have to execute the judgment by filing execution application by which you will get court's assistance for shifting his articles and getting back vacant possession of the premises

6. your claim as regards the unpaid arrears of rent will still continue against the tenant. Plus you will also be entitled to claim damages from him for overstaying

7. this is the due procedure of law which you need to follow

Yusuf Rampurawala
Advocate, Mumbai
7515 Answers
79 Consultations

5.0 on 5.0

1. It appears that you have entered in to a leave & license agreement for 11 months with your licensee against payment of license fee on monthly basis.

 

2. So, never call the licensee as tenant and the fee as rent as otherwise it will fall under the Tenancy Act of your State which ordinarily goes in favour of the tenant and runs for years to be disposed of.

 

3. If the premises is in locked possession of your licensee, you can not break open the lock and enter in to the said premises as per law.

 

4. You shall have to file a suit for eviction and recovery of possession to get back the possession of your premises licensed to the licensee to live.

Krishna Kishore Ganguly
Advocate, Kolkata
27220 Answers
726 Consultations

5.0 on 5.0

You need to get it adjusted in deposit or later file recovery suit for the same

Prashant Nayak
Advocate, Mumbai
31954 Answers
180 Consultations

4.1 on 5.0

Dear sir,

The proper legal process to evict a tenant is to file a suit for eviction. But it might be a long process.

As of now you can issue a legal notice demanding him to pay the dues and vacate the premises within a period of 15 days, otherwise you would be constrained to initiate legal proceedings against him and claim compensation for all the loss being caused to you. 

Ask him to authorize his agent/friend to collect the luggage. 

Do not change the lock or move his luggage yourself. Let the same lock be there. If you change it he might blame that you have stolen some of his valuables. 

Hope this helps.

Best wishes.

Agam Sharma
Advocate, New Delhi
617 Answers
6 Consultations

5.0 on 5.0

If the tenant don't pay rent and occupy the premises amounts to wilfull default and on that ground he can be vacated by filing a petition in the rent controler court.you can't break open the lock and put your things, which will attract criminal action against you

Mohammed Mujeeb
Advocate, Hyderabad
19299 Answers
32 Consultations

4.7 on 5.0

1. You cannot remove luggage of tenant without serving him notice and presence of tenant or his legal representative.

2. You need to serve him notice for eviction from your premises before removing his luggage.

3. You should ask tenant to send his representative for removal of luggage if he cannot come for moving his stuff. 

 

Mohit Kapoor
Advocate, Rohtak
10687 Answers
7 Consultations

5.0 on 5.0

Send him a legal notice informing him about the balance rnt amount and what you will do in case he doesn't come back.

Shift his belongings to a single room in the presence of some witnesses. Send a recording of it to him.

Rahul Mishra
Advocate, Lucknow
14088 Answers
65 Consultations

5.0 on 5.0

  1. As per the information mentioned in the present query, makes it clear that the tenant has now moved to the place of his father, and now you may need to give the property on rent to someone else and also concerned about his luggage.
  2. I would like to apprise you that you should serve him a communication stating all the incidents in past Ankit his non presence and about your intention to move his luggage.
  3. In this way, after his reply, you can move his luggage to some other place and if he doesn’t allow so then ask him for all rent otherwise you will have to approach the court of law for getting it vacated and plus rent with interest.

Sanjay Baniwal
Advocate, South Delhi
5474 Answers
13 Consultations

5.0 on 5.0

Ask a Lawyer

Get legal answers from lawyers in 1 hour. It's quick, easy, and anonymous!
  Ask a lawyer