The rights of a tenant and a landlord in Maharashtra were regulated by the Bombay Rents, Hotel, and Lodging Houses Rates Control Act, 1947. To meet the demands of the changing scenario and better balance the rights of a tenant to those of the landlord, a new State law was enacted, being Maharashtra Rent Control Act, 1999 (“the Act”). The Act is the governing statute for disputes between landlords and tenants in Maharashtra.
In a civil case involving immovable property, as a common practice, when a party to litigation dies, their legal representatives or heirs can implead themselves in an ongoing case and pursue the court case involving the immovable property as the legal heirs. However, the situation is quite different when it involves a tenant and a landlord.
In the event of the death of a tenant, the Act diverts from the above principle of civil and property laws.
On the tenant’s death, his lease rights would be inherited as per Section 7(15) of the Act. Section 7(15) defines a tenant as a person whom or on whose account rent is payable for any leased/rented premise. Further, the Section provides that in the event the tenant dies, whether the death occurred before or after the commencement of this Act, any member of the tenant’s family, who was residing with the tenant where the premises is leased for residence or such person who was using the premises for a specific purpose it was leased such as for education, business, trade or storage.
Section 7(15), makes it amply clear that the legal heir apparent is not the heir to the lease rights of the premises. It is the person who was either residing on the premises or was using the premises along with the deceased tenant. The Act has favoured the person who has been deriving benefits from the premises rather than the line of succession or testamentary rights.
The Act further clarifies that in the event at the time of the death of the tenant, such member is absent, or any heir of the deceased tenant, the inheritance of the lease rights shall be decided by the court in the absence of agreement.
The provisions of the Act are structured in a way to supersede the rights of a legal heir/representative of the deceased tenant to provide a preferential inheritance to the person who has been enjoying the possession or benefits from the leased premises along with the deceased lease/tenant at the time of his death. The legal heirs or representatives may only get these rights in the absence of such a person and any agreement regarding the same.
The Hon’ble Supreme Court of India in Vasant Pratap Pandit v. Anant Trimbak Sabnis 1994 SCC (3) 481 held that since these tenancy rights under the Act are statutory, the testamentary succession of tenancy rights is not possible under the provisions.
The Hon’ble Bombay High Court, in Dharamvir Joshi vs. Jayant Patwardhan, elaborated the meaning of the phrase ‘residing together,’ which is that the residence must be permanent and merely a temporary stay does not amount to residing together for the inheritance of lease rights.
Recently, the Hon’ble Bombay High Court in Vasant Sadashiv Joshi v. Yashwant Shankar Barve decided on January 3, 2020, held that the Rent Act does not recognize members of a joint family or the joint family itself, to be a tenant within the meaning of the Rent Act. The Bombay High Court further held that the Rent Act defines “tenant” as any “person by whom or by whose account, the rent is payable”. The Bombay High Court held that the joint family is thus not included in the definition of “tenant” under the Rent Act and, by extension, cannot include members of such a joint family. The Bombay High Court also observed that a tenant necessarily meant a single person and not a joint family, either as a unit or any of its members individually.
Thus, the lease rights are inheritable in Maharashtra, but only to the person who had last resided/availed the benefits of the premises with the deceased tenant. Only after such proof of permanent residence/use with the deceased tenant shall the heir succeed the other legal heirs/family members over the tenancy/lease rights of the premises.
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