My tenant will not vacate. How do I evict them?

The first thing to say is what not to do. Changing the locks, removing the tenant's belongings, or disconnecting electricity and water is not lawful, and it converts your straightforward eviction case into a criminal complaint against you.

The civil reason it is a bad idea is Section 6 of the Specific Relief Act, 1963. A person dispossessed of immovable property without his consent, otherwise than in due course of law, may sue to recover possession notwithstanding any other title set up in that suit, and the suit must be brought within six months of the dispossession. A tenant put out by force can therefore get back in without proving any right to be there at all, and the landlord then begins his eviction case from a considerably worse position than the one he started in.

The framework in Karnataka

Residential and commercial tenancies in the state are governed by the Karnataka Rent Act, 1999, alongside the general law in the Transfer of Property Act, 1882. Note that the Rent Act exempts certain premises, including some let at rents above a prescribed level and premises let to certain categories of tenant, in which case the ordinary law and a civil suit apply. Which regime you are in decides which forum you go to, so establish this first.

Two exemptions decide a great many Bengaluru disputes. Section 2 of the Karnataka Rent Act sets out the Act's application and carves out a list of premises, among them premises belonging to certain government and institutional owners, and newly constructed or substantially renovated premises for a period of fifteen years from completion. Separately, a tenancy created for a fixed term of not less than eleven years under a written lease falls outside the Act, which is exactly why long commercial leases in this city are drawn that way. Our guide on tenant eviction in Karnataka works through the scope question in more detail. Within Bengaluru, matters under the Act go to the Court of Small Causes.

The grounds that succeed

• Arrears of rent, after a notice of demand and the tenant failing to pay within the statutory period
• Bona fide requirement of the landlord or their family for their own occupation. This must be genuine and is closely scrutinised
• Unauthorised subletting or parting with possession
• Material damage to the premises, or use for a purpose other than that let
• Acquisition of alternative suitable accommodation by the tenant
• Reconstruction or demolition requiring vacant possession

None of that is a matter of impression. Section 27 of the Karnataka Rent Act, 1999 is headed "Protection of tenants against eviction" and provides that no court shall pass an eviction order except on the grounds the section itself then sets out. On arrears, the section works on a notice followed by a two month window, so the demand must be made properly and the two months must be allowed to run before the petition is filed. On personal requirement, the court weighs the comparative hardship of landlord and tenant, which is why a bona fide need has to be proved and not merely stated.

One provision is worth knowing if it fits your case. Section 31 gives a right to recover immediate possession to a landlord who is a widow, a person with a disability, or aged sixty five or over, where the premises are needed for their own occupation or their family's. The right is limited to at most one residential and one non-residential premises, and is exercisable only once.

The sequence

1. Serve a legal notice terminating the tenancy and demanding possession, and where the ground is arrears, demanding the arrears. Serve it properly, with proof.
2. File an eviction petition before the court having jurisdiction under the Rent Act, or a civil suit for possession and mesne profits where the Act does not apply.
3. Claim mesne profits for the period of unlawful occupation, and arrears with interest, in the same proceeding.

Where the tenancy sits outside the Rent Act, the notice to quit is governed by Section 106 of the Transfer of Property Act, 1882. A lease for agricultural or manufacturing purposes is deemed to be from year to year and terminable by six months' notice; a lease for any other purpose is deemed to be from month to month and terminable by fifteen days' notice. The notice must be in writing, signed by or on behalf of the person giving it, and either sent by post to the party, or tendered or delivered personally, or affixed to a conspicuous part of the property where delivery is not practicable. Get the form and the service right, because a defective notice is the commonest way a sound eviction case is lost. Our guide on how to send a legal notice in India covers the contents and the proof of dispatch.

Arrears and mesne profits are money claims, and an eviction order does not collect them for you. Claim them in the same proceeding where the forum allows it, and where they have to be pursued separately, our guide on the procedure in a money recovery suit sets out the limitation position and the court fee. A tenant who has already left owing eleven months' rent is a recovery problem, not an eviction problem.