Hello everyone,
I just wanted to ask for your legal opinion on this. My brother signed a contract as a tenant to rent out an apartment in mumbai with 2 roommates. They deposited 75000 as security and fixed a rent of 30000 per month.
Now during the covid crisis, the landlord still kept pressuring them for the rent and she makes her lawyer do the talking who says things like its your "legal obligation" to pay her. And that they needed to give her a notice of 30 days before leaving.
So they gave her the notice in April, and as all 3 are in their home towns and not in mumbai, she told them that she'll look for a new tenant and will pack up their bags and put them aside.
This month her lawyer called them again saying that she wants her full rent as long as the bags are still in her property. They still have the screenshot of the chat where she agreed to pack up and pyt aside their bags. now because she isn't getting any new tenant, she is extorting money from them.
she said the rent will only stop when one of them physically comes to the apartment and take their bags home. in a time when travelling is banned and trains and flights are not running
Is this legal? using a pandemic as an excuse to keep asking for money?
Thanks for reading
