Respected Experts,
i`m a tenant in a prime commercial property since 1977,My tenancy is in my firms name,dealing in retail business,in which me and my wife are partners.i had paid a pagdi of rs 80,000 in 1977 for acquiring the property on tenancy from the landlord,i dont have proof of it,as those days no one used to issue a receipt for pagdi.i only have the monthly rent receipts and the rent agreement terms.The landlord passed away in 1990,he has 2 sons,the elder son claims he has got the share of the said premises and he is my landlord now,he however hasn`t shown any proof of inheriting the said premises.
He stopped taking rent and issuing rent receipt since 1997,i however sent him rent through R.P.A.D in 1997,1998,1999,2000 ,then again in 2009.which he didn`t accept,i have proof of that.
In nov 2011 he filed a case against me in court of small cases,on the basis of bonafide requirements for his wife`s clothing boutique,and that i haven`t paid him rent all these 15 years.(its all untrue,he has many properties which are on rental basis of todays market rates)
My lawyer is handling the case and i have given him the power of attorney to present me for the hearings.
for quite sometime the proceedings kept taking place and now the latest update is that the case has been put up as pending as the landlord and his advocate stopped pursuing the matter.
My query is:
1)can i trust my lawyer(there have been instances of the lawyer and the landlord coming together and fool the tenants)
2)my lawyer says that he has put an application in the court for depositing rent as landlord isn`t accepting it,but since the court has put the case in pending,we cannot deposit the rent in court as yet.
3)i had paid rent till march 2012,i still have to pay rent till sept 2012,my lawyer says no need of that as of now as our case is still going on and we will deposit in the court once we get permission from court.
4)since the tenancy is registered in my firms name,can me and my wife surrender our partnership and sell our tenancy by taking prevailing market rates and let the new party deal with the case and the landlord.
Before my landlord filed a case against me i had offered him money for ownership at today`s market rate even though i had already paid pagdi in 1977 prevailing to that times market rates,still the landlord isn`t interested in giving me ownership and wants me to vacate the premises.
Who is justified?
