Lease Questions and Answers

Answer: D

The key is premises in the municipal area of Jaipur City let for residential use at a monthly rent of Rs. 8,000.

Section 3 of the Rajasthan Rent Control Act, 2001 lists premises to which Chapters II and III do not apply. Premises let to a citizen of a foreign country or to a foreign mission (A), premises belonging to or vested in a University established by law (B), and premises belonging to a Government company as defined in section 617 of the Companies Act, 1956 (C) are each in that list, so those chapters do not apply to them.

The Jaipur residential premises were exempt only through the old rent-ceiling clauses of section 3, which put the cut-off for Jaipur at Rs. 7,000 a month. Rajasthan Act No. 33 of 2017 (27 September 2017) deleted those clauses, so by the examination date (25 March 2018) the rent no longer took the premises out of the Act, and Chapters II and III apply to them. I read the deletion in a legal database's copy of the Act and a summary of the amendment, and did not see the official gazette text, so the clause-by-clause numbering is not checked.

Answer: B

The incorrect statement is A prior intimation of at least three days to the tenant is necessary.

Section 25 of the Rajasthan Rent Control Act, 2001 lets the landlord inspect the premises let out by him at day time, after giving the tenant prior intimation of at least seven days, and not more than once in three months.

So the day-time condition and the once-in-three-months limit are correctly stated, and only the three-day notice period is wrong. Since one statement is incorrect, 'None of the above' cannot be the answer.

Answer: A

Kishore is a tenant holding over.

Section 116 of the Transfer of Property Act, 1882 provides that if a lessee or under-lessee remains in possession after the lease has determined, and the lessor accepts rent from him or otherwise assents to his continuing in possession, the lease is renewed, from year to year or month to month according to its purpose.

Kishore is Bharat's under-lessee; after the five years expire he stays on and pays rent to Ashok, the lessor, who accepts it. That assent makes him a tenant holding over, not a trespasser or an unauthorised occupant.

Answer: C

The provision is Section 8.

Section 8 of the Rajasthan Rent Control Act, 2001 deals with limited period tenancy. A landlord and tenant may jointly apply to the Rent Tribunal for permission to create a tenancy of residential premises for a limited period of up to three years, and the Tribunal grants permission together with a certificate for recovery of possession, which becomes executable when the period expires.

The other sections listed deal with other matters, so the specific procedure for limited period tenancy and the recovery certificate is in Section 8 alone.

Answer: C

The remedy is an appeal under Section 19(6) of the Rajasthan Rent Control Act, 2001.

Section 19(6) provides that from every final order passed by the Rent Tribunal, an appeal shall lie to the Appellate Rent Tribunal within whose local limits the premises is situated, to be filed within sixty days of the final order along with a copy of it.

Because the Act gives its own statutory appeal, the order is not final and unappealable, a first appeal under Section 96 CPC (which lies from decrees of civil courts) is not the route, and a writ petition is not the ordinary remedy where an alternative statutory appeal exists.

Answer: B

An agricultural lease is deemed a lease from year to year.

Section 106 of the Transfer of Property Act provides that, absent a contract or local law or usage to the contrary, a lease of immovable property for agricultural or manufacturing purposes is deemed a lease from year to year, terminable by six months' notice. A lease for any other purpose is deemed one from month to month, terminable by fifteen days' notice.

'Month to month' is the rule for other leases and is the trap. 'For one year only' would end the lease automatically, which the section does not say.