My tenant has not been paying rent since November 2019. I am a 68 year old person from Visakhapatnam. I gave my shop on rent to a person for tailoring. He paid the rent for the last time in Aug 2019 through phonepe. From Nov 2019 he stopped paying current bills also. So I tried to call him to warn him about these things but he didn’t pick up the phone then. So I locked the shop in Feb 2020 having no other option and sent him an sms to meet me, vacate the shop and pay the outstanding rent. 

He then came to and blackmailed me that if I didn’t give him the shop back. He would harass me through the police. As I didn’t give him the shop. He filed a wrong complaint against me in the police station in July 2020. But police told him to pay rent first and then do anything in court or in the presence of elders.

Suddenly on 28th Dec 2020 at 2 am he tried to break the lock of the shop. When I heard the noise, called the police and video recorded it and next day filed a complaint against him on which no action was taken till now. I am losing 2 yrs of rent because of him. I have no other sources of income and my children are still young. Please tell me how I can evict him and collect my outstanding rent of 2 yrs?

Question from: Andhra Pradesh

First of all you should file an FIR for the offence of house breaking under section 456/511 of the Indian Penal Code. He has committed the said offence when he tried to break the lock. This is a cognisable offence hence, you can record the First Information Report in the nearest police station.

You should file a civil suit for the eviction of the tenant because he has not been paying the rent since November 2019. Before filing the civil suit you should send a demand notice to pay the rent. Demand notice is a condition precedent for filing of civil suit for the eviction of the tenant who has defaulted in paying the rent.