Withhold Security deposit for termination of contract within lockin
7 months ago
For a property in Panvel a rental agreement was executed for 11months with 6months lockin through an agency. Due to unforeseen circumstances the tenant is terminating the contract and moving back to his city. How much security deposit am I allowed to withhold. Assuming, the agency gets another tenant quickly and there's no loss of rent, I am still at a loss paying rental registration charges, agency charges twice. Can I withhold that actual loss assuming no rental loss ? If there is a rental loss of 2 months, can I withhold 2x rent plus the dual charges? For my understanding, is loss of time a ground to be compensated by tenant?
Next part is can rental agency charge brokerage twice since the first tenant barely stayed 30 days ? Looking for appropriate legal advice here for this peculiar situation.
Fairly and usually, when a tenant terminates the agreement and vacates the let-out premises during the lock-in-period, the advance or security deposited by the tenant is forfeited and in case it is not expressly mentioned in the agreement, then in the absence of service of one-month advance notice required to be served by the tenant before termination of the agreement, rent for one month is deducted, provided a clause to that effect is mentioned in the agreement. The loss of time cannot quantify the actual financial loss, so, you need to resolve the matter based on fairness and the principle of natural justice to protect the interest of both. A broker cannot demand brokerage twice for the same purpose caused by an unusual event.
The period of 06 months shall be the Lock-in-period and during the Lock-in-period the LICENSEE shall not have right to terminate and/or cancel this Agreement.