Court
Handled by Advocate N. J. Parmar, B.A., LL.B., more than thirty-five years at the Bar. Court practice and notaryship run together: under section 3 of the Notaries Act, 1952 read with Rule 3 of the Notaries Rules, 1956, notaries are appointed from among advocates of long standing, and the application is routed through the court where the advocate practises.
Where the agreement decides the case
Where a lease exceeded one year and was not registered, section 49 of the Registration Act, 1908 bars it from being received as evidence of the transaction — because section 17(1)(d) required registration. A landlord relying on an unregistered three-year agreement discovers this at exactly the wrong moment. A properly stamped and notarised eleven-month agreement, by contrast, is admissible and is the starting point for everything that follows. Rent agreements in Gujarat →
Matters handled
- Arrears of rent and recovery
- Eviction and possession
- Deposit disputes — the commonest landlord-tenant fight in Vadodara, and almost always traceable to one vague sentence about when and how the deposit comes back
- Disputes over condition and damage at the end of a tenancy
- Unauthorised sub-letting, change of use and breach of covenant
- Disputes arising from leave and licence arrangements, including whether the arrangement was in substance a tenancy
Before proceedings — the notice
A properly drafted notice specifying the breach, the arrears and what is required frequently resolves the matter, and where it does not, it is the foundation of the case. Legal notice →
Landlords: keep the agreement, the rent receipts and the written communications, and never take possession by self-help. Tenants: an inventory and photographs at both ends of the tenancy settle most deposit disputes before they start, and a landlord who refuses to give receipts is telling you something worth noting.
Where a claim is time-barred, where the document relied on was never registered and therefore cannot be received in evidence of the transaction under section 49 of the Registration Act, 1908, or where the realistic recovery is less than the cost of recovering it — you will be told at the first meeting, not after money has been spent. A settlement reached quickly is very often worth more than a decree obtained slowly.
What to bring
- Every document you have, including the unhelpful ones
- Photo ID
- A dated account of what has happened
- Any notice or court paper already received or sent
- The rent agreement
- The rent payment record and receipts
- Photographs and inventory from the start and end of the tenancy
- All written communication between the parties