CHENNAI: In a relief to people staying in rented houses in the city, a city court has said landlords renting out their premises can ask for only one month's rent as advance.

The XIII small causes court, in a recent order, underlined the precedent established by the Supreme Court in 1996, and directed a house owner to adjust the advance amount paid against rent arrears. The apex court had said: "The landlord is entitled to receive only one month's rent by way of advance and any amount paid in excess of agreed rent shall be refunded or adjusted towards rent."

The case concerns Niamuthullah, who filed an eviction petition under the Tamil Nadu Buildings (Lease and Rent Control) Act before the court, saying he had rented out his premises to an advocate, Hariharan Rajan. He said Rajan had agreed to pay Rs 2,500 a month as rent, but defaulted on payment of rent and electricity charges for 11 months (from February 1, 2007 to January 31, 2008), running up dues to the tune of Rs 27,500. He said the tenant should be evicted on the basis of "willful default".

In his counter, Rajan said he had paid Rs 25,000 as advance to the house owner. He said when he sent rent to the house owner through money order, Niamuthullah refused to accept it. So, he moved a small causes court for depositing the rent. The court allowed his petition. The house owner, in contravention of rules, had collected more than one month's rent as advance, he said, adding that any pending amount could be adjusted from the advance.

Judge C Sasikumar said Rajan had submitted rental receipts as evidence. It showed that only rent for May 2007 and July 2007 were not paid. As the house owner had already collected Rs 25,000 as advance, arrears of Rs 5,000 could be adjusted from it. "The contention of Niamuthullah that Rajan had committed willful default is not acceptable," the judge said dismissing the petition.

The verdict, however, attracted criticism from the legal fraternity. "Whittling down the advance amount to one month's rent is impractical and unfair," said advocate Sanjay Pinto. Underlining that the Rent Control Act favoured tenants, he said the law has to be fair to both tenants and house owners. He also said evicting a tenant for not paying rent was a cumbersome process, and the only safeguard an owner had against default in rent and damage to the property was the rental advance, he said.