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The Supreme Court has ruled that a landlord cannot waive the right to terminate a lease by simply accepting rent after the term has ended.
By - Kshitij Srivastava
The Supreme Court affirmed that the landlord's simple acceptance of the rent after the term of the lease has ended does not constitute a waiver of the right to terminate the lease.
Tenant asserted that there had been no lawful termination of the tenancy under Section 106 of the Transfer of Property Act, 1882, in response to a landlord's eviction lawsuit. The Trial Court rejected the lawsuit after accepting this argument. The Karnataka High Court granted the revision petition submitted by the plaintiff-landlord in accordance with Section 18 of the Karnataka Small Cause Courts Act, concluding that in light of Section 111(a) of the Act, the lease would expire over time and that, in such cases, notice of termination under Section 106 of the Act was not necessary. The High Court ruled in Shanti Prasad Devi & Anr. Vs. Shankar Mahto & Ors. published in AIR 2005 SC 2905 = (2005) 5 SCC 543 that the landlord's simple acceptance of the lease after its term has ended does not constitute a waiver of the contract's termination. As a result, the defendant petitioned the Apex Court for special leave.