[Gaur]

As already suggested by others send him a Legally worded mail reminding him of the clauses as per the agreement and the systematic default that he has done.

Mention that this is causing you immense mental and physical pressure.

By any chance do you have contacts in the local police ?
If yes, that can help immensely, a normal phone call from even a mid-level police officer will make him stand up and take notice.

Even if you don't have any contacts, i suggest you visit the local P.S and explain them your case, see if they are open to make a call to him and just "politely remind" him to follow the agreed terms and conditions.

For future tenants, if possible try to get post-dated cheques from them and mention in the rental agreement if payments are not made by xyz date the corresponding cheque will be deposited.

[SN88]

We faced a horrendous experience with one stubborn and experienced crook.

We rented our our 3 bedroom apartment on the outskirts of Mumbai. This chap started defaulting after the 1st year. He stopped paying rent after the 12th month. We sent many messages, phone calls etc and finally after 3 - 4months we appointed a lawyer.

Check his guts. When he came to know we hired a lawyer, he sent us a legal notice from his lawyer, asking for full refund of his deposit (he was yet occupying the house). We replied the deposit would be returned once he vacated the flat and paid his overdue rent, utilities etc.

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!

[Theyota]

I have a property that I have rented out for over 10 years in a country that I barely visit once in 2-3 years. The country has clear tenancy laws that are enforceable. What I have learnt the hard way is that a tenant who does not pay rent on time does bigger damage in terms of how he or she maintains your property. I have been very lenient on rent defaulters when they are behind by 2-3 months only with the good faith that I might be helping someone who is struggling to pull along. But I have had 2+ bad experiences in the 10+ years I am renting out where a tenant that was consistently late was also a pig in how they lived. Both the times, I had to spend a fortune to get the house fixed after they left. So, I have decided that from now onwards, I will have them vacate if a tenant is late for more than a couple of times. When I think deep about it, I also see that if they are financially struggling, they could have easily downsized to property that is 30% cheaper in a nearby community, but they did not do that. Most of the folks who do not pay on time are the ones who lack any character and honesty.

[car_addict]

This is exactly the reason why landlords in Bangalore ask for 10-12 months rent as advance. Tenants keep complaining about this, but the damage left behind by most of the tenants does not even cover this.

In Bangalore, even court orders are not being respected. The police also wash off their hands unless you are ready to spend some major money or have connections.

I have seen a friend sell of the property to the squatting tenants themselves as he was not able to vacate them because of class wars.

[Mystic]

I am not sure if this the correct thread to share my experience in one of our properties.

We own 350 square yards site with an independent single storied house. No one is occupying it. As a civil engineer myself and my father is also a civil engineer, we used to visit the house periodically to check the building but termites are creating a havoc to the empty house even though it is on termite control AMC. We finally decided to demolish and give it to development and build apartments. We had 2 of our immediate neighbours who are also having the same issue with their empty houses and joined us in the development. The builder has built a 5 storied building with 3 bhk and 2 bhk apartments in the 1000+ square yards. He gave a choice to us to pick up 3 numbers of 3BHK or 5 numbers of 2 bhk to each of the 3 owners of the site (Total 25 apartments). We chose three 3 BHK and my neighbours chose five 2 bhk each.

Now comes the issue of one of my neighbours who is the owner of five 2 bhk apartments. She is a lady and never gave her apartments for rent to anybody as she doesn't live in this city. It is now 15 years old and she still doesn’t bother. The electricity is cut off by the government and as the property taxes are not paid, they stuck a paper on the apartment doors. She has not paid maintenance for the past 15 years. Some of the apartments occupied in the same complex are lawyers. In all association meetings, this comes up as an agenda and in the MoM, people suggest we need to go to court and complain in the local police station but nothing happened in the last 15 years.

The reason why I want to bring this up in this thread is due to the presence of such strange litigant people who live amongst us like normal people who never care for the law or police. I once met this wonderful couple and talked to the husband of the lady. He said that he does not interfere in his wife’s properties. The lady seem to be fine and logical in her talking. I donot know what other reasons are there and why they are careless about this property.

[ninjatalli]

Originally Posted by GKR9900

Maybe I'm a bad person, but I’ve been more than patient with this tenant—offering time, reminders, and chances to resolve things amicably. Escalating the issue was never my first choice. Even last month, when a similar scenario evolved, I still did all the necessary maintenance work as requested by the tenant for a substantial cost - that is business. But when someone defaults on commitments and then resorts to intimidation, protecting yourself isn’t cruelty—it’s self-respect. If anything, it reflects on his actions as much as mine!

Please go with your gut feeling. Folks here can provide opinions/suggestions depending on their situation but circumstances differ a lot. For example, rental agreements are much more "iron-clad" in Mumbai (one has to do a police check iirc) than say in Bangalore where the notary based agreements have no legal value. Only you know what's the on-ground situation with regards to that individual.

I would say scale up the employer level association/communication if your gut says so. Don't badmouth the company but if you are able to hit the right tones on what/how their employee is representing their org with regards to values/virtues, it might go a long way than any other means (it could also backfire if the org doesn't care).

All the best in your endeavors to get to an amicable resolution.

[aashishnb]

Just to bring some clarity on the issue, in normal parlance, see mix up different types of rent agreements and call everyone a tenant. Everyone commenting from their personal experience is right in their own way, but we also need to know the difference in the types of agreements so as to appreciate the viewpoints.

Disclaimer: property rights is a State Subject and different states have different laws & levels of protection.

So here goes some very basic level of differentiation:

1. Leave & License - most owner friendly. Some agreements even mention owner has right to enter the premises, licensee cannot change locks, immediate eviction on doing anything illegal, etc. Most agreements is Maharashtra would be these types and therefore solutions mentioned by GTO work.

2. Tenancy - draconian in all pretty much entire country. Very tenant friendly. In most cases, 'rent control' applies, tenancy gets transferred to next family member, etc. Tenant is practically half owner.

3. Lease - more tenant friendly than Leave & License. Essentially as an owner, you are giving 'possession' of the property and therefore some rights.

I've been a licensee for more than a decade. Any decent person with a family will be worried where to go and find another place at short notice. In places like Mumbai, Pune, Bangalore, etc., its very owner friendly market in general.

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.

@Jeroen, such rental agency system that includes insurance doesn't really exist in India yet. In fact, the agreement has to be entered into between owner & licensee.

[sandeepmohan]

Watched this malayalam movie ? If you have not, well watch it. Thats how to handle a tenant. In the movie, it isn't a case of non payment of rental. The Landlord sends a notice asking the tenant to vacate. They don't want to. Trouble starts with the Landlord finally coming in and throwing everything out. Its a bit dramatic but sometimes, when a Tenant isn't respecting or responding to you, the Owner, some extreme measures have to be taken. Off course, I don't encourage this sort of tactic. You've been nice. You don't need to take it anymore.

The Legal route is the correct way to go about it. You need to be patient.

You have past the "being patient" point with your Tenant. Time to take everything out of the house, change the locks and move on. Off course, send a notice to your ex tenant you have done so. You did things by the book anyway.

[am1m]

Originally Posted by ninjatalli

(it could also backfire if the org doesn't care).

I'm just wondering why any org would care. I know some HR folks and I've heard them complain about employee's ex-spouses contacting them about non-payment of child-support from the employee and their standard response has been that it is not a company issue. And quite frankly, I agree, if I was a manager and someone outside the organization tried to contact me about something my employee did outside of the organization, I too would not want to get involved. I would tend to side with my employee who I have known for years, rather than someone unknown. Even if it is something illegal, let them make a complaint to the police. And for something like this, as long as it doesn't affect the organization, why should they get involved?

Perhaps the work culture is different in different places? Not helpful to the OP, I know, but generally expanding the discussion and genuinely curious to see what other people think about where the personal/professional line is drawn.

[BullettuPaandi]

Originally Posted by am1m

I'm just wondering why any org would care

Reputation.

There can be situations where the company is brought into trouble for something their employee did, even personally in their own time and outside work. Legally, they can't really be held accountable, but it helps to keep a tab on such situations to at least prepare themselves to face any charges. A situation such as this is highly unlikely to be one of those, but from the perspective of the company, it is still good to keep a tab on these, to access the situation and avoid escalation to even facing any charges, as 'Court of Public Opinion' works a bit differently.

[maddyoni10]

Long story ahead!

I had a terrible experience that spanned 3 years long. My tenant came in as a wholesale coconut dealer, but later it became known to me that he was a ex-councilor from ADMK, ruling party back then. This was a individual house in Tambaram Chennai and I was working in Bangalore at the time of renting it out. Couldn't meet him in person and a so-called "family friend" arranged this. After 1 year, he became irregular and messages through the family friend yielded some payment of a month's rent (10k), after a couple of months. To pay that, he visited my workplace with his henchmen in tow. Only later I realized that he was "sizing me up" I guess. When I finally asked him to vacate, he threatened to murder me. I met his father-in-law through the family friend who was also not happy with him and said I have given my daughter to him, I hope you will not take any "action".

Before we could send a legal notice, he pro-actively sued my mom (who is the owner after dad's demise) that we are troubling him with exorbitant rent demand and disturbing him to vacate etc.. Meeting at local police station arranged, he came with his local goonda-cum-lawyer in tow and obviously police sided with him. He wrote a letter saying he will vacate in 3 months but nothing happened. We found a good lawyer who knew this thug as he is a regular at the court appearing for many cases against him.

This was a tried and tested modus operandi for this guy. He had another such individual house in Chromepet area which he had rented. He got a poor family from his native, Tiruchendur, to stay at that house while not paying rent to another dumb houseowner like me. He asked me for a "settlement" of Rs. 10 lakhs to vacate our home! The audacity!!

I took multiple approaches to get him out. Filed a complaint in CM Special Cell, met with local MLA, ministers thanks to my cousin in the secretariat. All of them knew this guy and asked me why I rented out to him. But they didnt help. Why should we antagonize a fellow party man for some unknown person like you? If you use force, we will not oppose you or support him. Beyond that, it is a you problem.

Even OPS, next only to JJ said, "I will ask him to vacate but if he doesnt, do you expect me to fight with him?". My mom and I didnt know how to respond to such a response from the state Finance Minister.

Even the local court had party appointed Judge who deferred the case for 45 days every single time based on the tenant's request on multiple occasions. Went to high court and got an injunction to the munsif court to close the case in 3 months. Finally munsif court ordered eviction. Even then he wouldn't relent. I gave the court order to the local SI, a nice lady who took pity on me. She would visit the house once in 2 weeks and the tenant's 3rd wife felt embarrassed by cop visiting their home and wanted to vacate. The tenant then had the balls to ask me for 5k to vacate the premises. All this after 3 years of not paying a penny, making me run from pillar to post, litigation expenses and sleepless nights thinking of how I couldn't manage my father's lifetime investment!

My payback: I found out that this lowlife had rented out a ground floor of a home in a nearby street. I went to the owners and told them of my experience and how they have messed up. Gave them my local lawyer's contact. Lawyer advised them to throw out the tenant's stuff when he wasnt it town. they did that and when he returned to his rented place, his family found their stuff on their street. I wish I could have seen their faces...


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.

[am1m]

Originally Posted by maddyoni10

Long story ahead!
...
3% is the rental yield in India.

Thank you all for sharing your stories. I've been against 'rental yield' as a form of investment every since I started working. But for some reason, most people still give that advice, "build/buy a property, give it on rent". I really don't see the use for a salaried person like me with no connections or way to enforce any sort of agreement. And add to that the hassles of buying/maintaining an additional property. Yet this advice is still doled out as default. While my wife and I were travelling for a couple of years, several bright sparks even suggested we give our own house out on rent "while we weren't using it"! Such bad advice, given so casually.

For some reason it is stuck in the head of the female members of the extended family. One of them even wanted to change tenants because she wasn't getting the kind of rent the neighbors were getting. I managed to convince them that having a good tenant even at a lesser rent (and the one they have right now is an absolute angel- keeps the house cleaner than the owners used to, pays on time and is a joy to deal with) is far better than having a bad tenant who might agree to pay more.

I'm going to share some of these stories with them, so hopefully they will learn the realities of renting that most people face.

[Sebring]

Originally Posted by am1m

I've been against 'rental yield' as a form of investment ever since I started working.

There is no 'rental yield'. You just wait for capital appreciation.

One month electrical "connections are out", when in another, there is "no water". Plus taxes are very high if you have rented out your property and have declared such to BBMP.

In bangalore, everything is expensive 'to fix', and it eats up the rent.

[deadguy25]

Originally Posted by am1m

'rental yield' as a form of investment every since I started working. But for some reason, most people still give that advice, "build/buy a property, give it on rent". I really don't see the use for a salaried person like me with no connections or way to enforce any sort of agreement.

There is not much of yield. Property taxes, maintenance, etc, will eat away quite a bit of that yield. The actual yield is property appreciation. Yes, it provides comfort subconsciously when you know that there's a bit of rent coming in.
For any rental property, one has to try and meet the person before letting the property out to him/her.

[Sedate driver]

I have few properties and have 7 tenants now. However I rent the properties to certain type of people only. My criteria for selecting the tenants are:

1. Should not be a local.
2. Should be in a transferrable job.
3. Prefer single working men / women / students for smaller properties.
4. No rental to business people.
5. Family size should not be more than four.
6. Filter the people before they come to visit the property by checking their background over phone itself.

Even though it takes some time to get people like I prefer, it makes sense to wait as there won't be trouble later. I have also made a point to get deposit of 10 months rent.

Despite this, I had a trouble with a tenant but made him to vacate after the agreement period was over. Though he was paying rent regularly, he was picking up quarrels with neighbors, bought a second car and parked in front of the house, giving me advices etc. He gave me sleepless nights with his antics but I never responded to his messages and just waited for him to vacate.

In short, picking up a right tenant should be as good as conducting an interview in my view.