you are suggested to approach court under tenants act and you will get the relief from court.
Retail affected due to corona
We are a retailer having shops in various parts of eastern region like Odisha, West Bengal, Jharkhand, and Bihar. Due to Corona we are affected and incurred loss and due to this we were unable to pay rent of shop on timely basis.One of our Shop Owner at Balasore has taken extreme step putting another own Lock at our Shop also threatening our staff not to open the shop. We are in constant touch with him over telephone but he denied to listen any of our offer and asking to pay whole of the Rent as agreed even though we have paid 80% of the Rent amount due. Kindly Suggest what we should do. Thanks in anticipation. Amit Dubey
Asked 3 years ago in Business Law
6 Answers
You are tenant of shop premises
2) landlord cannot during course of tenancy agreement lock the shop and place his own lock
3) he needs to obtain court orders for eviction of tenant for non payment of rent
4) you can file suit seek court orders to direct landlord to remove lock from shop which has been rented to you
5) also file police complaint against landlord for disturbing your lawful possession of shop
You cannot refuse to pay the monthly rental amount.
There is no exemption exempting the tenant to pay the monthly rental amount due to corona.
However the landlord cannot put a separate lock of his own to your shop obstructing you from carrying out your business.
You can lodge a complaint before the police for this criminal offence of obstructing your business activities besides creating nuisance.
He has remedy only through civil court for evicting you for not paying the monthly rental amount.
Dear sir,
The centre has taken measures to ensure that people like you who are affected economically because of the pandemic should be given leniency. To specifically mention some of the main provisions:
The Ministry of Housing Affairs states:
- Wherever workers, including migrants, are living in rented accommodation, the landlords of those properties shall not demand payment of rent for a period of one month.
- If any landlord is forcing labourers and students to vacate their premises, they will be liable for action under the Ac
However, please note that it is his right to be paid the full amount of rent. You cannot refuse to pay the rent.
As far as the lock on your own shop is concerned, it is advised that you file a criminal complaint for this. Also, unless he obtains an order of eviction from the court, he cannot force you to leave the shop. You may as well send a legal notice before lodging the complaint so that the matter get settled outside the court . Thank you.
- A tenant cannot claim for force majeure , if the said agreement not having a clause for the same or even the same is mentioned in the agreement as well.
- However, the landlord cannot put a lock at the shop due to non payment of rent , except to approach the court
- Hence, you should lodge a compliant against him before the police and higher official .
- Further, you can also file a suit for mandatory injunction before the district court for opening the lock and to restrain the owner from interfering forcibly.
You can file a suit in the Rent Court under Section 7 of the Orissa Rent Control for immediate removal of lock put by the landlord. You can also file a criminal complaint for unlawful restrain in the court of Magistrate. In no case a landlord is entitled to lock the rented premises.
