Your Advocate

Q: Pardon me for using informal English for I am not versed with the legal jargon used in the court of law. Getting right to the point: One can safely say that, the dealings between the landlords & the tenants in this city of ours is not governed nor enforced by well defined laws, even though, I'm certain that there are good laws in the books to regulate these contractual parties.
Questions for the panel: (1) What amount of money can a landlord ask for as security deposit; will any arbitrary sum suffice? (2) Is this deposit refundable and how much can be deducted and for what? (3) What recourse does a tenant have if the money is not refunded promptly? (4) Is there a statue of limitation for the refundable amount?
I. Rahman,
Shayesta Khan Avenue, Uttara.

Your Advocate: Your queries have an air of despair in respect of landlord-tenant relationship in our capital city in particular. I must not say that you have no reason to be fed up with the kind of culture that is prevailing in this area of our lives. Apparently it looks as if the land lords as owners of the premises, are the authority to dictate terms and the tenants are subservient to them.
Fortunately enough, the law does not say so. The Premises Rent Control Act, 1991 is the basic law governing this area. The law says that the tenant shall be bound to pay only the "standard rent" agreed upon by the parties or fixed by the Rent Controller. Section 7 of the Act imposes a restriction on arbitrary and illogical increase of rent and says , even if so increased , can not be recoverable. Section 10 of the Act strictly prohibits demand of money in any form including salami, premium, jamanot , advance etc, exceeding the amount of rent payable against one month only. Section 14 of the Act provides procedure for return or adjustment of the amount received by the land lord in excess of the amount permitted by law. Section 15 of the Act provides procedure for determination of the "standard rent." It says, inter alia, that the standard rent for a year shall not exceed 15% of the market value of the premises. Section 23 of the Act provides punishment for receiving rent exceeding the standard rent or receiving or demanding advance, salami, jamanot etc. in violation of law. If there is any specific problem with regard to the issues we are discussing it would be advisable for you to consult a lawyer.
I hope your queries stand addressed and need not be dealt with separately.

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Q: After my grandfather and Grand mother's death my two maternal uncle became the owner of all the moveable and immovable property. My mother and Aunts were not aware of their legitimate right on their parent's property. They thought only sons are lawful heir of the parent's property. So, they did not thought to claim or go for legal action. When we grew up we claimed about our mother's legitimate share of the property left by our grand parents. And my mother also agreed and asked my uncles to pay her due share. But our uncles tactfully avoid and lingered the matter but gave hope that they will not deprived my mother from her due share. Since we had very pleasant relation with our uncles we did not want any embarrassed situation. Moreover, legal steps might hamper our relation and reputation and the main thing was that we could not think of being deceived by our beloved uncles. Both of my uncles are not alive and usually their son's are now owner of that property. We requested our cousins to pay our due share but they violently refused to give any of due share. They even said to go to court and do what ever we can. My questions are (a) can we claim our due share of that property legally? (b) If, yes how and if no, then what's about the law of son: daughter 2:1?
Mr. Humayun,
I-D, 4/11, Mirpur, Dhaka-1216.

Your Advocate: This is the usual tug-of -war between the siblings over the paternal property particularly in our society. Traditional values always prevented the daughters from demanding the share in their parents' property. More so your mother and aunts were not at all aware of their right to their paternal property giving a kind of walkover to your maternal uncles all these years. Now that your mother and the maternal uncles are dead the problem has landed in a different and more difficult phase. In any case you need not lose heart. Your mother's right to her parents' property is unconquerable. It can not be taken away by threat or coercion. In the peculiar circumstances a suit for partition may bring about the remedy you want.