The Lock-In Clause Is Your First Line of Defence
Most residential leases in India include a lock-in period, typically six months to a year, during which neither party can terminate the agreement without penalty. If your landlord is asking you to leave before that window closes, check the agreement for this clause first. If it exists and the landlord initiated the exit, the financial burden of early termination falls on them, not you. The standard remedy is one to three months' rent as compensation, depending on what the agreement specifies. If your agreement is silent on early termination, the Transfer of Property Act, 1882 governs. Under Section 106, a monthly tenancy requires fifteen days' notice; a yearly tenancy requires six months' notice. A WhatsApp message on a Tuesday asking you to leave by the weekend is not notice under any reading of that statute.
