RELIEF TO NRI LANDLORDS
Landlord-tenant disputes assume a different and more
troublesome shape when the landlord in question happens to be an NRI. Distance
from the location, inability to travel frequently to check on tenancy
situations and the difficulty in finding trustworthy sources for solving these
situations make the issue of landlord tenant disputes one of the biggest banes
for NRIs.
Keeping this in mind, the Punjab Government introduced an
amendment in its ‘East Punjab Urban Rent Restriction Act, 1949’ in the year
2001. This was prompted by the awareness of the urgency and need in the case of
NRIs to get their property vacated if they decide to come back to their
hometowns. More often than not, NRIs who have rented out their properties with
the intention of keeping the property safe while they are out of India, find
themselves in a quagmire when it comes to getting the same vacated.
Section 13 B, the Amendment introduced to the original Act,
recognises all this and seeks to make it more convenient for NRIs to seek
respite. In a major attempt to grant respite to NRIS, the Amendment grants the
NRIs the right to recover immediate possession of their property. For all of us
trying to understand the nuances of this particular provision, it would be beneficial
to keep the following in mind:
§ The
Amendment grants an NRI the right to immediate possession of his property,
whether he requires it for his own use or for the use of anyone living with him
or dependant on him
§ It is
assumed that he would be able to prove that he is coming back to India
temporarily or permanently
§ The
right to get property vacated applies to
both residential and non residential buildings
§ It
does has the basic condition attached to it that the NRI must have been an
owner of the particular property for at least five years
§ An NRI
might be the landlord in more than one building, but he can seek relief in only
one building, as chosen by him-that too only once in his lifetime
§ The
binding on the NRI is that he would have to occupy it within three months of
the vacancy and he cannot sell or let it out again before a period of five
years from the time that he gets possession of the particular property
§ Perhaps
the biggest saving grace is that an NRI needn’t necessarily first come to the
country to seek redemption; he can even file his request through an attorney
§ In
case the property of the NRI is occupied by more than one tenant, his right to
get the property vacated extends to all the tenants
§ The
need and urgency of the NRI has been appreciated and understood by the law and
is taken as valid – if the tenant wants to contest that validity, he would have
to prove it with documentary evidence
The
benefits of this amendment were extended to the Union Territory of Chandigarh
in the year 2009 by the Central Government.
It
is noteworthy that not only does this Amendment provide immediate relief to
NRIs; it also states that there would only be a procedure of ‘summary
proceedings’ followed by the courts. The NRI, thus, is spared of the ordeal of
long trials and appearances in court. Under the Law, the courts seek only to
scrutinise the petition of the owner and the reply/counter plea of the tenant
in order to pass a judgement.
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