Delhi rent control notes

Renting a house or flat is a difficult task. It is not an easy effort to find a tenant and sign a rental agreement with
someone you can trust with your property. A person takes a huge risk by lending his property to a stranger. Many
times, after renting out their property to tenants, the landlord needs the property for their personal use or has to
evict the tenant for different reasons, many of which might be due to the fault of the tenant himself; however,
despite several requests from the owner, the tenants may often refuse to leave the property. Hence, this article
aims to help owners to evict tenants from their property.

What is the purpose of introducing the Delhi Rent Control Act, 1958?
The main object of introducing the Delhi Rent Control Act, 1958 was to protect the rights of tenants by restricting the landlords
from evicting their tenants except on the grounds available under the said Act. This Act has been designed for each
and every state in India separately.

Rent Control Acts (RCAs), including The Delhi Rent Control Act 1958, are meant to fulfill two main
purposes:

 protect the tenant from having to pay more than a standard rent.
 to protect the tenant from arbitrary eviction.

When does the said Act applies?

The provisions of the Delhi Rent Control Act, 1958 are applicable incases where the amount of monthly rent of a property is Rs.
3,500/- or less. However, if the amount of rent of a property is more than Rs. 3,500/- per month, the provisions of the Transfer of
Property Act, 1882 becomes applicable.

What is the territorial jurisdiction to adjudicate the dispute covered under the said Act?
In case of a dispute between a landlord and a tenant under the said Act, the authority to legally intervene in the dispute lies with
the concerned Rent Controller of the area where the property in question is situated.

Where the Appeal lies?

An appeal against the decision of the Rent Controller lies before the Rent Control Tribunal under Section 38 of the Act, and later
on with the concerned High Court of the State under Article 227 of the Constitution of India.

Landlord- landlord" means a person who, for the time being is receiving, or is entitled to receive, the rent of any
premises, whether on his own account or on account of or on behalf of, or for the benefit of, any other person or as a
trustee, guardian or receiver for any other person or who would so receive the rent or be entitled to receive the rent, if
the premises were let to a tenant;

standard rent", in relation to any premises, means the standard rent referred to in section 6 or where the standard
rent has been increased under section 7, such increased rent;

1
[(l) "tenant" means any person by whom or on whose account or behalf the rent of any premises is, or, but for a
special contract, would be, payable, and includes--

(i) a sub-tenant;

(ii) any person continuing in possession after the termination of his tenancy; and
(iii) in the event of the death of the person continuing in possession after the termination of his tenancy, subject to the
order of succession and conditions specified, respectively, in Explanation I and Explanation II to this clause, such of
the aforesaid person’s--

(a) spouse,

(b) son or daughter, or, where there are both son and daughter, both of them,

(c) parents,

(d) daughter-in-law, being the widow of his pre-deceased son,

as had been ordinarily living in the premises with such person as a member or members of his family up to the date
of his death, but does not include,--

(A) any person against whom an order or decree for eviction has been made,

(B) any person to whom a licence,

The term landlord not only includes the owner but also the person who collects the rent on behalf
of the owner, and moreover this definition includes the legal representatives of the owner of the
premises, as has been held in the case of Pukhraj Jain v. Padma Kashyap, AIR 1990 SC 1133.

In the case of Imtiaz Ali v. Nasim Ahmed, AIR 1987 Delhi 36, it was held that even a person
holding a general power of attorney, and thus, empowered to collect the rent on behalf of the
owner of the premises, will come within the ambit of the expression ‘landlord’.

In the case of Emperor v. Dattatraya Sitaram, AIR 1948 Bom 239, it was held that, even a
clerk empowered to collect rent comes within the periphery of the expression ‘landlord’.

What are eviction laws in India

A rental tenancy is simply a type of a lease in which the property is temporarily transferred from the owner, who is
known as the lessor, to the tenant, who is referred to as the lessee, according to Section 105 of the Transfer of
Property Act, 1882. But, The Rent Control Act of 1948, which was enacted by the Government of India to calibrate
the rentals of real properties and to govern the evictions of tenants in India, encompasses all the provisions relating
to tenants and landlords. The most important requirement, however, is that you should have a proper rental
agreement in place with your tenant, which defines details such as the rent amount, the duration of the agreement,
the security deposit, and the purpose of the stay. While tenants are protected from arbitrary eviction from their
homes except for specified reasons and under specified conditions under the Rent Control Act, the landlord retains
the right to evict a tenant if the tenant commits certain specified acts or if the landlord requires the home for his
own personal use.

How to prepare for a suit for eviction

The most significant document is the rent agreement, which contains the terms and conditions of the contract and
creates the contract between a landlord and a tenant. The contract should include an eviction clause that may be
used in case there is any disagreement. Evicting a tenant is only possible when the lease ends or when the landlord
cancels the lease by providing a formal notice under Section 106 of the Transfer of Property Act, 1882, and if the
tenant still refuses to vacate, the landlord will have to file a lawsuit and get an order from the court.
Grounds for eviction of tenant in India
You can state any of the following grounds for the eviction of a tenant from your property:

 If you need the property for your own requirement or for a member of your family
 If a tenant has leased a previously rented house/flat/property to another individual without your permission
or acknowledgement
 If the worth or value of the property has relatively decreased because of the tenant’s action
 If the landlord plans to build another structure, which will necessitate the property’s destruction
 If you want to construct a new structure, you’ll have to demolish the existing one
 One can initiate an eviction suit if the tenant fails to pay the rent amount (as indicated in the rental
agreement) for more than 15 days after the due date
 If the neighbour finds the tenant’s activities distasteful, and the landlord has received complaints against
the tenant
 If the tenant has utilised the rented property for illegal purposes or for reasons not specified in the rental
agreement
 If the tenant is establishing that he or she is the owner of the rented property on purpose

What one should not do while evicting a

tenant
The landlord has the right to evict a tenant from his/her property based on the grounds stated above. However,
he/she should keep in mind the following points:

 The landlord must not carry out the eviction by using illegal methods like shutting off basic services such
as electricity or water supply, changing the locking mechanism of the rented home, throwing away the
goods of the tenant, or imposing penalties on his own unless it is mentioned in the rent agreement.
These are criminal offences, and if the landlord is proven guilty, the tenant has the right to pursue
charges against him
 The rental agreement must be for only 11 months and include an optional renewal provision. It provides
future protection against eviction issues.
 A landlord cannot remove a tenant without first providing the tenant with an eviction notice.
 The reasons for eviction must be justified under the rental laws of the state where the property is situated.
 The rent agreement must be established with the help of a property lawyer and must include terms about
how to use the property, the termination of the rent agreement, the amount of rent, and so on.
 The Supreme Court of India has ruled that for at least five years a landlord cannot evict a tenant if the rent
is paid on time and the landlord does not want the property for personal use.

Process of evicting a tenant in India

The following method must be followed to evict the tenant after establishing the reasons for the eviction and
understanding what should not be done to evict a tenant:

Step 1 – Send a notice to the tenant to vacate

An eviction notice must be filed in a court of competent jurisdiction, stating the basis for eviction as well as the time
and date by which the tenant must leave the property, and it must then be issued to the tenant. The landlord must
allow the tenant a reasonable amount of time to quit the rented property. After getting a legal notice from the
court, the tenants in the number of situations vacate the rented premises.
Step 2 – File a suit for eviction
After obtaining the court’s eviction order, the tenant has the option of refusing to leave the rented property and
challenging the eviction. In this instance, the landlord might retain the services of a rental property attorney to file
an eviction lawsuit against the tenant. The tenant’s eviction lawsuit is filed in the civil court that has jurisdiction
over the rented property.

Step 3 – Final notice for eviction

The court hears both parties and, relying on the arguments and facts presented, issues a final legal notice of
eviction for the tenant. Once the court issues the final eviction order, the tenant must leave the rental property as
they cannot overlook this notice.

SETTLEMENT OF DISPUTES
As per the provisions of Section 35 of the Delhi Rent Control Act, 1958(1) The Central Government may,
by notification in the Official Gazette, appoint as many Controllers as it thinks fit, and define the local
limits within which, or the hotels and lodging houses in respect of which, each Controller shall exercise
the powers conferred, and perform the duties imposed, on Controllers by or under the Act. The Central
Government may also, by notification in the Official Gazette, appoint as many additional Controllers as it
thinks fit and an additional Controller shall perform such of the functions of the Controller as may,
subject to the control of the Central Government, be assigned to him in writing by the Controller and in
the discharge of these functions, an additional Controller shall have and shall exercise the same powers
and discharge the same duties as the Controller.A person not be qualified for appointment as a
Controller or an additional Controller, unless he has for at least five years held a judicial office in India or
has for at least seven years been practicing as an advocate or a pleader in India.
According to Section 36, the Controller has the following powers : The Controller may-(a) Transfer any
proceeding pending before him for disposal to any additional Controller, or
(b) Withdraw any proceeding pending before any additional Controller any dispose it of him or transfer
the proceeding for disposal to any other additional [Link] Controller shall have the same powers
as are vested in a civil court under the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908 (5 of 1908), when trying a suit, in
respect of the following matters, namely:-(a) Summoning and enforcing the attendance of any person
and examining him on oath;(b) Requiring the discovery and production of documents;(c) Issuing
commissions for the examination of witnesses;(d) Any other matter which may be [Link] the
purposes of holding any inquiry or discharging any duty under the Act, the Controller may,-(a) After
giving not less than twenty-four hours’ notice in writing, enter and inspect or authorize any officer
subordinate to him to enter and inspect any premises at any time between sunrise and sunset; or(b) By
written order, require any person to produce for his inspection all such accounts, book or other
documents relevant to the inquiry at such time and at such place as may be specified in the [Link]
Controller may, if he thinks fit, appoint one or more person having special knowledge of the matter
under consideration as an assessor or assessors to advise him in the proceeding before him. The
Controller may exercise the following powers for the recovery of fine: Any fine imposed by a Controller
under this Act shall be paid by the person find witnessed such time as may be the Controller and the
Controller may, for good and sufficient reason, extend the time, and in default of such payment, the
amount shall be recoverable as a fine under the provisions of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1898,
andthe Controller shall be deemed to be a magistrate under the said code for the purposes of such
recovery