To evict tenants from your property in West Bengal, you must follow legal steps and procedures and take guidance from a property lawyer.

Evict Tenants from Your Property in West Bengal

To understand how to evict tenants from your property in West Bengal, it is important to learn about eviction first. So, eviction means ousting tenants or occupants from the landlord’s property due to different issues or under different grounds. It is also necessary to define the landlord and tenant. According to the West Bengal Premises Tenancy Act, 1997, Section 2 (c) landlord means “landlord includes any person who, for the time being, is receiving, or is entitled to receive, the rent for any premises, whether on his account or on account of, or on behalf of, or for the benefit of, any other person or as a trustee, guardian or receiver for any other person or who would so receive the rent or be entitled to receive the rent, if the premises were let to a tenant and Section 2 (g) defines tenant. Tenant means any person who pays rent to the landlord for his possession of the property of the landlord. When a landlord lets out a property on rent, he or she may not have complete rights over the property but the landlord always has the right to evict the tenants from his or her property and take the possession back from the tenants.

Eviction of Tenants under Different Laws in West Bengal

The Supreme Court of India in 2016 said that the landlord cannot evict the tenants for five years if they are paying their rent on time but there are many provisions to evict the tenants according to the laws of the State or Country. There are different grounds under which a landlord can evict a tenant from his or her property.

The Grounds for Eviction of Tenants:

1. Rent not paid – This is a common reason to evict the tenant from the property. If the tenant does not pay the rent on time or has not paid the rent for a long time then the landlord has rights according to the West Bengal laws to evict such tenant from the property and regain possession of the property.
2. Sub-letting – Here, it is observed that the landlord has rented her or his property to a tenant but that tenant has rented such property to another tenant and raised rents from such sub-tenant. In such cases, the landlord can evict the tenant from his or her property.
3. Damaging the property – If the tenant damages any part or anything of the property of the landlord, then the landlord has the right to evict the tenant from the property.
4. Self-use – If the landlord wants to use the property for his or her personal use or self-use then also they can evict the tenant from the property by giving notice to the tenant.
5. Commercial use – If the tenant uses the rented property for some commercial purpose rather than using it for residential purpose then the landlord can evict the tenant according to the laws. This is provided that the original tenancy was for residential use only.
6. Unlawful purposes or other purposes – If the tenant uses the property for any unlawful purposes or other purposes then the landlord can evict the tenant from his or her property.
7. Loss of property value – If the tenant does anything to the property which leads to loss of property value or utility then the tenant is liable to be evicted from the property of the landlord.
8. Property for repair and renovation – If the landlord wants to repair or renovate his property then he or she can evict the tenant from their property.
9. Demolition of the property – If the landlord wants to construct another building and he or she needs to demolish the rented property for repair then he or she can evict the tenant to get his work done. There are grounds under Municipal Laws that allow renovation of dilapidated or condemned buildings.
10. When the contract or agreement expires between the landlord and tenant and it is not renewed then the tenant can be served notice to vacate such property.

Legal Steps to Evict Tenants from Your Property in West Bengal

1. Notice to the tenant – The landlord must send a legal notice to the tenant before evicting the tenant and this notice must mention all the necessary reasons to evict the tenant from the property. Here, it is advised that the landlord should consult a property lawyer in West Bengal to send the legal notice to the tenant.
2. Notice to the tenant via court – Now, a landlord must file an eviction notice to the court mentioning all the necessary reasons to evict the tenant, the date within which the tenant should vacate the property and so on. However, the landlord must provide reasonable time for the tenant to vacate the property. Here, the court serves an eviction notice to the tenant to vacate the property.
3. Filling of eviction suit – There are certain circumstances where the tenant refuses to obey the court’s notice and in such situations, the landlord can hire a lawyer and file an eviction suit against the tenant. It should be filed in a Civil Court under whose jurisdiction the rented property falls. Or it can also be filed in accordance with the laws governing such tenancy in West Bengal.
4. Final eviction notice – Here, the Court hears both the parties and then passes an injunction order as well as an order for eviction.
5. If the tenant still fails to vacate the property, then you must file for execution of that Court Order to ensure that the tenant is finally evicted with the help of local administration power.

Legal provisions related to Eviction of Tenant in West Bengal

Section 5 of the West Bengal Premises Tenancy Act, 1997 provides for obligations of tenants, such as: payment of rent on time by the tenant, use of premises for a specific purpose, allowing the landlord to inspect the property and also that no additions or alterations to the property should be made by the tenant. It is also important that the tenant does not sublet the premises without the express permission of the landlord.

Further, Section 6 West Bengal Premises Tenancy Act, 1997 provides for duties of tenants to ensure that the property is well maintained.

Case Laws about Eviction of Tenant in West Bengal

This case of the defendant/appellant is that the plaintiff/respondent filed the suit praying for eviction of the defendant from the suit premises on various grounds. According to the plaintiff/respondent, the defendant/ appellant was a tenant with respect to the suit premises under him at a monthly rent of Rs. 190/- payable according to the English calendar month. As the tenant defaulted in paying the rent and as he was guilty for causing annoyance and nuisance, damages to the suit property and as he was guilty of subletting, so the plaintiff/respondent issued a notice to the defendant /appellant asking him to vacate the suit premises. But as the tenant did not vacate, so the plaintiff/landlord filed a suit for the eviction of the defendant/tenant from the suit premises. The defendant contested the suit by filing written statement wherein he denied the allegations of the landlord on material points. He clearly denied that he defaulted in making payment of rent or was guilty of causing annoyance or nuisance, as alleged and he also denied that he was guilty of subletting of the suit premises as contended by the landlord.

Therefore, from the above discussion, the court is of the opinion that the order of reversal as passed by the learned first Appellate Court holding that the defendant/tenant was guilty of subletting of the suit premises was not at all proper and the judgment of the First Appellate Court, according to this court, was passed without properly considering the elements which are required to be proved by the landlord in establishing the allegation of sub-tenancy and as such, the said decision must be held to be perverse in nature and liable to be set aside. Considering all these things, this court is of the opinion that the judgment as passed by the learned first Appellate Court is liable to be set aside and that of the learned trial Court should be restored. In the result, the appeal succeeds on the contest. The suit is dismissed.

“M/s Popat & Kotecha property & ORS. Vs Ashim Kumar Dey (Supreme Court of India) Date of Judgement/Order: 09/08/2018”

Legal Help for Eviction of Tenant in West Bengal

For eviction of tenants in West Bengal, it is better to consult the best property lawyer in West Bengal who can guide you through this process. For more details,l contact here.