Please help!!!My owner is harassing us and he has no values

There are three element to your question. 

1.Haraassment by owner to stay put in the place till it is convenient to the owner.

2.  Valid repairs for your house to make it livable.

3.Threatening the tenant and his wife unneccessarily for dire consequences.

You have Remedies in:

1. and 2. : You will have to file a case under your local Rent control Act . or you can file a civil case also to stop harraassment.

3. : You will have to file a criminal case you can file a FIR or you can file a PCR case before your jurisdictional Magistrate.

Thank you for your prompt reply.We registered an agreement for a period of 8 months as the owner requested without realising the intent.The owner is aware of this clause and he says that we cannot take any action against him as the agreement is less than 12 months.Though the problems in the flat are due to the builders quality of construction and the owners negligence, since we brought the leakage in the ceiling to the owners notice, he holds us responsible for the same even though the seepage is in our bedroom ceiling.The seepage in bathrooms is also similar.We have intimated the society and the owner verbally at the start of our stay itself and I have some photographs taken and stored in our first month to prove the same.The owner has also harassed the previous tenant who absconded after 2 months of stay as he did not shift his belongings.The owner has been sacked from employment since last july and he is trying to take money by inventing causes.He has about a lakh and a half as deposit with him which he is refusing to pay in toto.People who came to see the house will vouch for the maintenance of the house but, the owner-society(Illegal Broker) nexus is causing a lot of trouble as they are not ready to allow us to move out.I am very frustrated and would like to just shift to another premise.My husband is worried because we are new to the place and he anticipates harm to me and my child if he does not comply because they are not decent people.

It is true that not to attract the provision of Transfer of properties Act, people are entering rent agreement for less than 12 months.  

A wrong is a wrong. Don’t give the wrong doer a reason. It is unadvisable to cite the unemployment and not able to sell his property as a reason for what wrong he is doing. It is up to him to defend and give a reason for His wrong doing in whatever manner in the court or wherever. You don’t give him a reason and a handle.

It is strange that you acted as a gullible though through your question you want to be smart, when you signed the rent agreement, you syhould have more careful, in the rent agreement the furnishing will be defined and detailed as what furnishing were handed over to you. If not, it is assumed that there were no furnishings. As for switches etc I do not think it will be costlier than a legal adviser.

In the beginning itself you should have noticed the condition of the building, it have photographed and then got it signed by the owner and three witnesses. And tagged with the rent agreement.  

As for the rent deposit, you can ask it to return by sending a legal notice through a Advocate. And dont show your weakness that you are new to the area to anyone. It is not a fact. it is only your impression. Even the old persons in an area can and are getting into trap of a wrong doer. 

I think i have a shortcut for the problem.. 

Vacate the house, and file a case against the owner for not returning the advance which will in turn shorten the term of the case in court, and u can file for charging excess for unwanted expenses and get it in second part.

I would like to thank you for the response.We have stayed in rented accomodation in south india and have never encountered people such as these and yes it was an eye opener to the ways of the world handed out harshly to us.We paid the owner the rent in advance too with the same thoughts that people are intrinsically good.Only after speaking to the owner do we realise that we have been wilfully wronged and it was done with extreme care right from the start.The repercussions of trusting such people has dawned on us.My action is not to defend my owner , but he was employed as the head administration in a very large organisation and has been sacked due to the very same reasons...i.e, on reasons of integrity.He has been unable to find employment due to the same because no other organisation wants to have such a person.His current actions seem to say that he intends to continue the same behaviour.I shall follow your instructions when I pick up my next accomodation,and I profusely thank you for the moral help.It has lifted my spirits and yes I do agree that displaying my weakness will infact let the wrong doer get into a sense of security and he will trouble us more.Thank you for the good advice and suggesting the course of action.Can they deduct a large sum of money from our deposit citing damage and can I get a write off from them and contest it in court later.If so, how should the same be done?

v.good answer