Know thy landlord...

I can understand your plight. A friend of mine recently went through the same phase. And its the same city Gurgaon...

So a city which boast of cultural revolution is still not untouched from the age old mindset of how a landlord can cheat a tenant. They seem to forget that gone are the days when tenants mostly represented the 'class' who could not afford to buy a house. So the landlord used to use all means to torment the tenant.

However, things are not the same now. Tenants in cities like Gurgaon, now mostly represent the corporate 'people on the move'.

My friend whom his 'suave-looking' MNC employed landlord cheated of his deposit money in the name of painting and repair of the 'normal wear and tear' after more than 2 years of stay - has now gone in to buy a much much sophisticated apartment.

But what are the legal implications to this?? There are no clauses in the agreement which says that the tenant has to pay for the repainting of the house when he leaves...nor is he supposed to pay for the normal wear and tear.

But, who demarcates..what is 'normal' wear and tear and what is 'abnormal'
Its the landlord..... when the landlord has rented his apartment for earning some extra bucks apart from the rent he has got, what does a tenant do...

Its the land of cheats man....Working in BMW and showing attitude do not necessarily make you a gentleman...

Don't be quiet..



Hi...
It’s really bad on the part of your landlord. But always remember that one who does such deeds has to pay someday.
Well, I suggest you that if you have any documents when you took the house on rent then produce a copy of those documents and show him the door of court. I hope there is some punishment for such people...

taking him to court

I issued him a letter which is a notice of legal proceedings. I've talked to a lawyer who has told me that i will get some monies back, but it will take two or three years.

So let's see. We are taking him to court. At least now he should get a bit scared.

Good job !

Good job...

Excellent. On one hand we move up, and on the other, things like these may keep us down...
Lets hope the court proceedings move swiftly.

Dont let it be a One Way Street

Many times, due to the time constraints of moving in early, tenants usually dont go through the fine prints of the agreement and pay dealy in terms of deductions for damages not done ...

Tenants would benefit by reading the draft lease license agreement and not agree to clauses that are detremintal to them. Remember, just as you are desperate to move into the apartment, the landlord is equally desperate. He is losing money for every day that his aparment remains vacant.

We as realtors can run a due diligence on such documentation to ensure that the agreement is balanced for both the owner and the tenant. We can take photographs of the apartment when possesion is given to the tenant, they are printed on papers and signatures of landlord n tenant is taken so that there are no disputes latter on as to the condition of the apartment when possesion was given to the tenant. In case, the apartment is fully furnished, the appliances condition at that point of time is mentioned in the pictures. The definition of "wear and tear" is clearly defined and clarified to the owner n tenant.

Hope this helps to fellow members.

getting money back

Well, it worked ! Hurray! he got scared and now he's giving back most of the money due to me. In the end, he has, over the years, still gotten away with a lot of money, and even in this negotiation he ended up giving me 6% less than what i was due, but luckily it all happened before engaging the lawyers, so i don't incur any cost there.

planning to celelbrate with a nice dinner, and a bottle of wine.

A word of advice to others who might be trying to avoid a similar situation. Because we had all our communication in writing and because none of his was, in this case, both parties knew that we would win the court case, the only question was, how much would we get, and how long would it take. Doing things in writing is EXTREMELY important because it does not only provide a record, it also shows intent , intent to be professional, civil etc.

Another thing, the amount we proposed to sue him for was much much larger than the deposit, because we accounted for all charges and expenditures + interest etc for items which are legitimate claims (.e.g expenses on his house that we incurred but that he refused to reimburse, which technically , according to the lease, he should incur). As a result, the prospect of paying back more than the deposit, is what i feel, brought him back to the bargaining table.

Very Good...

Nice to hear that everythng is fine now, and you have got your money back...
Celebrate n Cheers...

cheers! thanks for the advice.