[V.Narayan]

Originally Posted by GKR9900

At this point, I just want him out is all.

I enquired about him a bit in my residential association and it seems he is quite the character. He hasn't paid the maid her wages for the last 2 months, he only pays electricity bill when the lineman is about to pull off the fuse, there's also an incident of a helmet being stolen from another resident's scooter.

I am not trying to be argumentative here, but I do see many members are against contacting the employer in this case and I'm genuinely curious to know the reasons, at least for future reference. A few of my friends also asked me to contact the employer. I understand that was probably a method adopted here by V.Narayan sir also, forgive me if I'm wrong.

I do get the not mixing professional and personal bit. In fact, I had explicitly mentioned this in my email to the employer. Neither was this my first resort. And legal would be my last resort in this case.

Dear @GKR9900, May I be straight with you Brother for hopefully your own good.

First, you have a squatter not a tenant. He has clearly done this before and knows the game. Second, you are IMHO being too soft on a wilful defaulter and giving him the benefit of the doubt he does not deserve. Third, his intention is to stay squat on your property for a long long time without paying rent or paying it only occasionally till a precedent gets set that will go in his favour in a court case. Fourth, he understands the law is in his favour by and large as are the Courts and the biases of the Hon'ble Judges. Approaching his employer is one of the very few levers you have other than sending him a legal notice. The former is likely to be more effective than the latter. In such cases of dealing with a wicked person after a point one must go for the jugular. He has learnt that you are a good man who will repair things even after he does not pay rent. He only understands the talk of the danda.

If you chose to complain to his employer as I did then go straight to the top with a copy to his bosses boss. If you continue to soft peddle you are going to effectively lose your property. If you know senior or even mid-tier folks in the police or in politics then this is the time to seek their favour.

PS: I am not much of a property investor and I have never been a landlord. But thanks to my mother, uncle and F-i-L I got roped in to resolve such situations 4 times and the lesson I learnt is go for the jugular. Don't do a gentle escalation. I was successful in 2 out of these 4 cases. The other two with my uncle became permanent squatters till they passed away!

Best of luck with your efforts and Godspeed.

[Lalvaz]

Originally Posted by SN88

The matter then reached the courts and took 7 months for the judge to order his eviction. The tenant and his family left immediately the very night, changed phone numbers and disappeared. They enjoyed the property for approx 10 months without paying - 3 months of the deposit we held. So approx 7 months rent free living. We spent an additional 2 lacs on lawyer fees.

Now courts help in vacating the tenant, but if you wish to recover past due's, forget it. If the tenant is unreachable and you don't have his address, there is nothing you can do about it, literally. We tried!

Didn't you have his PAN card, AADHAAR card, Passport, Permanent Address proof? At least in Maharashtra Its mandatory to inform the local police station with the identity and address proof of the tenant, so that you are not unknowingly harbouring a criminal as your tenant. Also as part of the court proceedings, the chaps identity documents would have to be submitted, no?

[Noctis]

I see that you are from Kerala. A long time back we had a harrowing experience with a tenant which with all the appeals took 5 years in the court before the final eviction order was executed.

Basically have either sold or kept properties unoccupied in the state since then instead of going through all the trouble, because everything here from the courts/police/media is in favour of the tenant vs the "evil" landlord. And because of that be very careful of any vindictive action that may further fuel this narrative.

Whatever else you may do, consider starting a legal action as soon as possible so that you haven't wasted any further time if that becomes the only choice. And be careful of the lawyer you pick as some of them are all too happy with an extended court battle.

[poloman]

This shows how critical profiling of the tenant before renting out should be..! Always better not to rent out your property to people with non transferable jobs, lawyers, politically well connected, people with financial liabilities etc. This may be discriminatory but for your own good better vet the profile before renting out.

[UD17]

Originally Posted by GKR9900

Hello dear Team bhpians,

I wanted to vent a little and possibly get some advice from the community regarding my situation.

- Prepare legal notice as per the terms of the contract (usually 30 days), I assume you have the security deposit with you that you can deduct if didn't pay during the notice.
- Send registered post to the address
- Send the notice to the email and phone (or WhatsApp) of the tenant
- Leave a copy with the society office or security guard to handover to him
- Drop a copy below the door of your flat

Wait for the 30 days and Ask him to vacate the flat or face legal actions. Hope this helps.

[SN88]

Originally Posted by Lalvaz

Didn't you have his PAN card, AADHAAR card, Passport, Permanent Address proof? At least in Maharashtra Its mandatory to inform the local police station with the identity and address proof of the tenant, so that you are not unknowingly harbouring a criminal as your tenant. Also as part of the court proceedings, the chaps identity documents would have to be submitted, no?

We had all identity documents, Aadhar, pan et all. Even the agreement was registered. But the address on Aadhar was his previously rented flat. How do you serve a notice in a civil case or a court summon?
There is no such thing as permanent address if you are living on rent your entire life. My house maids passport has my address!

[jayded]

Originally Posted by maddyoni10

Long story ahead!

Lessons learnt: Do your due diligence before renting out your property. I dont want to specify criteria here but meet the person, family etc.. If anything feels a little off, dont go for it. 3% is the rental yield in India. Might as well have the home unoccupied for a couple of months till you find a "good" tenant.

I can only imagine your plight and feel sorry for the horrible experience, that too for 3 years. Just wondering is there an option for the owners to disconnect the electricity and water supply to the property in such instances of extended non payment of rent? That would be a good way to force people to vacate the premises.

[maddyoni10]

Originally Posted by jayded

I can only imagine your plight and feel sorry for the horrible experience, that too for 3 years. Just wondering is there an option for the owners to disconnect the electricity and water supply to the property in such instances of extended non payment of rent? That would be a good way to force people to vacate the premises.

I left no stone unturned in my effort to get him out. I tried requesting the local EB office to disconnect power supply. The EB guy knew that a politician was residing in the house and that he would yell at the EB official if it was disconnected. He "advised" that it is a civil dispute and I should settle it in court and not use EB for it

[deathwalkr]

Originally Posted by maddyoni10

I left no stone unturned in my effort to get him out. I tried requesting the local EB office to disconnect power supply.

Just an idle thought. If you stop paying EB bills won't they themselves come and disconnect?

[PatienceWins]

Originally Posted by deathwalkr

Just an idle thought. If you stop paying EB bills won't they themselves come and disconnect?

The electricity, water bills are paid by the tenant based on the usage.

[PaddleShifter]

Renting a property is not meant for the innocent/ honest in India.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IAoNySlmm0I

We have ourselves gone through this in 1999-2000 when my parents built 2 rooms on the terrace after taking home loan as they needed money and saw rent as a potential second income. Just two months after renting, the tenant turned hostile and it took us months to get the rooms vacated.

They ended up paying the EMI but we never rented it out again, despite financial needs at that time. I, on the other hand as a tenant, have faced issues with the security deposit on at least two occasions while vacating a house. Recently, a landlord refused to refund the money on the pretext that I have damaged the house I showed him all the photos and videos of the house that I had sent to the broker while occupying the house but still didn't receive the full refund. The pre-existing damage was repaired from my pocket.

My suggestion to you is to somehow get the property vacated amicably, without legal route. Let some financial loss pass (the world is not fair) and do not follow the lawyer blindly as it is his business to visit the court daily. You, on the other hand, may have more important work elsewhere.

[maddyoni10]

Originally Posted by deathwalkr

Just an idle thought. If you stop paying EB bills won't they themselves come and disconnect?

The tenant was paying EB Bill. He had defaulted a few times and when EB linemen went to disconnect, he had threatened them away and paid a couple of days later. The level these local politicians can stoop to is something, we, normal citizens cannot ever fathom.

[GKR9900]

UPDATE: Finally, the tenant has moved out of my apartment. After the heated phone call, there was no communication between me and the tenant. On Friday night I received a phone call from my resident's association secretary that the tenant is shifting his things. On Saturday morning, I received a WhatsApp message from him stating that he has moved his stuff out and wants to settle asap. I gave him a breakup of the dues to be covered. Although the original date of evacuation was 20th, I postponed it to 21st citing both our convenience. I don't know what came over him, but he was very decent throughout the conversation, even offered to clean the apartment before he vacates. No calls/voice messages this time. I too responded in text, just so that everything is well documented. He handed over one of the keys to the security guard and left by Saturday. Today, I went there personally to inspect the property. There was no visible damage and everything seems to be in order. I'm a bit skeptical about any hidden damage, but for now things seemed fine. We met, there was no unnecessary conversation, I deducted the electricity bill and the due rent + maintenance from his security deposit, and returned the rest. Because he kept his word, I collected the due till 19th and wrote off the 12 days electricity usage (as the bill date was 8th of this month). He requested his bike to be kept in the parking lot till Sunday. I agreed, collected the apartment keys and we parted ways. Hope this is the end of this chapter. All's well that ends well!

Thank you so much my team-bhp family for the support and words of advice, especially Capri89, GTO-san, V. Narayan sir and all others. Hope I can learn from the different perspectives presented by other members as well. Cheers!

[deathwalkr]

Maybe he chanced upon this thread and got cold feet

Congratulations on getting your property back. My paranoid self would change the locks

[skchettry]

Originally Posted by aashishnb

Some general points:
1. Always register the agreement. Unregistered agreements create challenges in enforcement.
2. Draft the agreement with all the clauses you want. Before taking the premises, licensee/tenant will be willing to sign all of these.
3. Give your space on L&L and never on lease / tenancy.
4. Like for most other things, often times non- litigation routes work faster.

Good points. I have a few properties in Mumbai suburbs on L & L; never rented out without this document. Even societies would not allow any overstay beyond this document validity date. Police verification is a must, I always have my broker for this work who goes by a pre decided selection criteria for the probable tenants - doesn't charge me any money, he also makes sure minimum waiting time between two tenants, gets me the market rates.
Given the low yield and in order to minimize any unforeseen issue from tenants' side, I have decided to slowly dispose a few of them in the coming months/years; there are better opportunities to invest in with peace of mind too.