Relationships between owners and tenants can be tense. Here is a small guide with a question-answer format, for a smooth rental...
For the tenant
In the morning, the owner appears to my place, takes his key and gets in to carry out an inspection. Does he have the right?
No. Your house is like a castle. Nobody can get in without your permission, not even the owner. “Even the police cannot get in a house without obtaining an authorisation from a judge”, Explains the lawyer Kishore Pertab. If the owner gets in the house with his keys without the tenant’s authorisation, this constitutes a property violation.
However, the owner may visit his property if he notified the tenant well in advance and if the latter agrees to let him in.
The residence’s owner decided to carry out modifications. He started huge construction works. As it is his house, I cannot prevent him...
Legally, he does not have the right to add or to remove part from the house. When the location contract has been established between the two parties, what is located and at what price were already established. The owner cannot, on its own will, decide to bring modifications, except if he received an explicit agreement from his tenant.
My owner wants to throw me out of the house as soon as possible. He even stopped the water and electricity distribution...
Nothing prevents the tenant to go to the Central Water Authority and to the Central Electricity Board to ask for water and electricity to be re-established. The tenant has the right to basic commodities. The owner must allow a reasonable notice to give the time to the tenant to look for a decent accommodation.
I paid the rent but the owner is pretending that I have not...
The Landlord and Tenant Act indicate that the owner must give a “rent book” to his tenant. At each payment, the sum, the date and the signature of the owner must be affixed. If there is no rent book, proofs will have to be taken to court.
The owner decided to raise the rental fee as from next month. Can he do that?
No. The Landlord and Tenant Act mention in which cases that the rental fee may be raised. It cannot be during the contract but only when it expires, unless it is stipulated in the location contract. If the tenant feels that he has been wronged, he may turn towards a Fair Rent Tribunal which will determine the case.
For the owner
The tenant painted the house according to his taste. The walls, which used to be white, are now colourful...
The tenant has the right to modify the house according to his taste. If he wants to paint the house interior in pink, he can. Nothing prevents him from doing so, unless the contract prevents him from. However, the tenant must give back the house to the owner in its initial state. If he painted the walls, he will have to paint them back in the original color and at his own expense.
Since several months, the rental fees have not been paid and I do not know what to do.
If negotiations are unsuccessful, the only option is to claim a repayment of the outstanding dept. Unfortunately, this procedure takes a lot of time.
The tenant left the house in a lamentable estate. What should I do?
Here again, you will have to resort to justice to which the owner may claim compensation. This can be done if, of course, the negotiations with the tenant are unsuccessful.
