Q627. Living in USA - How to

evict tenant in India for non

payment of rent

Question: Respected Sir , I rented out my property for a person about 6 months ago and the agreement was for 24 months period .I have not received rent for past 3 months .this person is connected with the opposition party of the state .he is not answering my phone calls and if we ask to vacate,his wife is asking where will we go now .to vacate these people from my house immediately what actions I have to take .I m afraid that the legal process may take a very long time and money .please help me to vacate them legally without any problem .I live in USA and my widowed mom as to deal with this . Thanks Answer: There is no way to evict a tenant immediately from your house in India and you are right, the legal process can take a very long time and cost money. Getting tenant to vacate house in India depends on: 1. The type of rental agreement ( Simple rental/lease agreement or Leave & License 2. The State where the property is located As an example, the state of Maharashtra where leave & license is the popular type of agreement to let out property, If the leave & license agreement is registered, it is quite easy to evict a tenant. On the other hand as far as non-registered agreements are concerned, civil action has to be taken and this can take years of attending court and be quite expensive. Punjab is one state in India that does have a NRI cell to help non-residents with property issues. Depending on where your property is located, you should contact a reputable lawyer to help. Once your lawyer reviews your rental agreement she/he can advise you of your options. Please note that evicting a tenant in the absence of a duly registered leave and license agreement is sometimes next to impossible! no lawyer will tell you this as they are interested in their fee, so do proper research before hiring a lawyer. Sometimes its cheaper to settle with the tenant by paying them off to vacate! If you do not have a full proof document, perhaps telling the tenant that you intend to move back to India and need the house for yourself, perhaps offering some monetary help to the tenant may induce the tenant to vacate, however get professional help from a lawyer before acting in any manner in this type of situations. Trying to evict a tenant in India while living in the United States is no easy affair, tenants are fully aware of this and take full advantage of such situations.