Landlord duty-bound to ‘maintain’ rented out premises: court

The court made the remark during hearing of a tenant’s plea,highlighting the dilapidated condition of the premises he was residing in since 1982 and the landlord’s lack of interest in carrying out the repairs.

North East Delhi resident Waheed Ahmed had moved the court seeking directions to his landlord to carry out the repairs of the tenanted premises comprising a room,a restroom and a balcony.

The court,on perusal of the photographs of the tenanted premises,noticed signs of seepage from the roof during rainy season as the landlord had broken the roof of an adjacent room. One of the wooden beams were damaged and had been temporarily repaired by affixing another wooden piece.

Other photographs showed that the tenanted premises did not have any bolt or locking mechanism. The roof of the adjacent room was also broken and plastic sheet was spread over the roof of the tenanted premises to prevent water from seeping into the room.

“The landlord has not taken any steps for repairing the tenanted premises even after receiving the notice of the present petition but has simply denied the need of repairs which shows he is not inclined to fulfill his obligations,” the court said.

The court also asked the landlord to carry out the repairs of the tenanted premises,remove the debris,install locking system and replace the broken wooden beam within two weeks.

Ahmed told the court that the landlord had broken the lock deliberately and also stored debris in front of the tenanted room to divert the flow of water.

He also said the landlord had done so to get him evicted from the premises evicted as despite repeated requests no repair work was done and whenever he undertook any work,the landlord picked up a quarrel.

At this,the court said that in case the landlord fails to carry out the repair work in two weeks,the tenant would be free to get it done at his own cost and the landlord will not obstruct him from getting the same done.