My grandmother owns a house in central Calcutta and has been living there for more than 25 years now. She kept the ground floor vacant, before offering a room there to a widowed relative and her young son in return of service. This amicable arrangement lasted about 18 years, but now the widow’s son — taking advantage of his mother and my grandmother’s old age — is, with the help of local goons, trying to encroach on the remaining vacant portions of the ground floor. They are claiming that the son has been paying rent for the accommodation but my grandmother does not issue receipts. They are also, through false allegations, forcing my grandmother to treat them as tenants. Please suggest appropriate action. I am worried that they are going to harass my grandparent further.

Name and address withheld

the expert: Your grandmother is not supposed to give them any rent receipt as they were allowed to reside there in lieu of service to your grandmother. They certainly do not enjoy the status of tenants.

First, you should immediately get in touch with the local police station and lodge a complaint against the encroachers. You should keep the officer-in-charge posted on all the goings-on.

You can ask your grandmother to treat the widow and her son as licencees and direct them to vacate the premises by way of cancellation of the licence.

If none of this deters the son from troubling your grandmother, then she should file a suit against him asking for directive in favour of evacuation.

Onus on tenants

We had let out a room space in February 1992 for tenancy-at-will on a month-to-month basis for commercial use. A fixed amount was also taken as security deposit for granting tenancy. There was a clause of enhancement of rent by 10 per cent every three years. It was also mentioned that corporation taxes and maintenance was to be borne by the landlord (in this case, it?s us). This arrangement worked fine upon renewal in 1995 and 1998. However, since 2001, the tenant has refused to enhance the rent at 10 per cent as stipulated in the agreement and has started paying rent to the controller directly. We have to recover our dues. Also, can we claim maintenance charges or municipal taxes under the new Premises Tenancy Act?

R.N. Kundu,
Ganguly Bagan, Calcutta

the expert: You may apply to the rent controller for recovery of your dues. You may also apply for fixation of fair rent under Section 17 of the West Bengal Premises Tenancy Act. As per Section 5 of the Act, it is the obligation of the tenant to pay charges relating to maintenance and amenities of the premises at the rate of 10 per cent of the fair or agreed rent. Furthermore, every tenant shall pay his share of municipal tax as an occupier of the premises in accordance with the provisions of the Municipal Act.

 

It?s this or that

We pay rent to three flats and are expecting to pay increased rent as per the schedules of the West Bengal Premises Tenancy Act. Will the increase in rent expected by my family be taken into account while computing the revised one? I have already calculated the revised rent on the basis of the schedule for all three flats, but one portion reading ?no more than three times? is causing a lot of confusion. Does this mean that the hike can be two times or even two-and-a-half times more?

Name and address withheld

the expert: In any case, the rent already increased will be deducted if it emerges that it is coming to less than what the fair amount is. That is what is stated in the West Bengal Premises Tenancy Act. But it does not rule out the possibility of an agreement between the landlord and the tenant. In that case, you should go by the agreed rent.

 

Hiking worries

I am a tenant of a commercial space in Howrah since 1986. I am paying 20 per cent of the rent as commercial surcharge along with the monthly rent. Now my landlord has filed a petition in the court of the rent controller for a hike under Section 17, sub-section 4A & 5 (7) of the West Bengal Premises Tenancy Act, 1997. I have an agreement with the landlord for increasing rent by 10 per cent every five years. Am I legally bound to pay the amount being asked of me now? Do I stand a chance of being heard?

D.K. Jagwani,
Howrah

the expert: If you have a written agreement with your landlord, which is registered, then you may refer the same before the rent controller, drawing his attention to Section 3(C) of the West Bengal Premises Tenancy Act. Section 17, sub-section 4(A) of the Act is applicable to cases where a tenancy subsists for more than 20 years or more in regard to the premises constructed in or before 1984. However, your tenancy is still less than 20 years old. This means that sub-section 4(B) is applicable to your case.

Section 5(7) states that 10 per cent of the fair rent has to paid towards maintenance amenities. The controller will calculate the amount of fair rent accordingly.

 

Snap the supply

I am a member of an apartment that has 14 other heads. The builder had initially fixed the monthly maintenance charge on the basis of square feet. Subsequently, in a general meeting it was decided that members would share any increase of maintenance charges equally, irrespective of the size of the apartment. After paying charges on this basis for more than a year, one member suddenly stopped paying and demanded that he be allowed to pay on the earlier scale. All requests ? through personal and general meetings ? to the member have yielded no result. A few others have threatened to stop payment until the defaulter pays up. Can we take steps like discontinuing water supply to his apartment?

S.K. Mukherjee,
Babubagan Lane, Calcutta

the expert: Section 87(6) of the West Bengal Co-operative Society Act states that the work relating to maintenance, etc. shall be carried out in accordance with the by-laws of the housing society and building rules of the municipality concerned or any competent authority as the case may be. The costs shall be apportioned amongst the members of the society. The member you have spoken of is not entitled to any essential service like water and electricity. You may inform the registrar of this. You may also pass a resolution for the cancellation of his membership. But remember to check the by-laws of your housing society before you take any action.