Landlord must repair tenant’s home: Court

Landlords are duty-bound to maintain premises rented out to tenants in a good habitable condition as the Delhi Rent Control Act mandates them to do so, a city court has said. HT reports.

Landlords are duty-bound to maintain premises rented out to tenants in a good habitable condition as the Delhi Rent Control Act mandates them to do so, a city court has said.

HT Image

Directing a landlord to carry out the repair work within two weeks, senior Civil Judge Anil Kumar Sisodia said, “Section 44 of the Delhi Rent Control Act casts a duty on the landlord to maintain the tenanted premises in good habitable condition.”

North East Delhi resident Waheed Ahmed had moved court, seeking directions to his landlord to carry out the repairs of the tenanted premises comprising a room, a restroom and a balcony. The court, after examining photographs of the premises, noticed signs of seepage from the roof during the rainy season as the landlord had broken the roof of an adjacent room.

Other photographs showed that the tenanted premises did not have any bolt or locking mechanism. The court asked the landlord to carry out the repairs of the tenanted premises, remove the debris, install locking system.