Law Maker

Section 12: Payment or deposit of rent during the pendency of proceedings for eviction

The Kerala Buildings (Lease and Rent Control) Act, 1965

How current this text is

Text as published by India Code for the Government of Kerala (Law Department), with amendments up to Act 16 of 1974.

No later amending Act or Ordinance appears in the Kerala Law Department's index of State Acts and Ordinances (checked to 2026).

The Act was made as President's Act No. 2 of 1965 (enacted on 4 July 1965, Kerala Gazette Extraordinary No. 60 of 7 July 1965) and re-enacted by the Kerala Re-enacting Act, 1968 (Act 8 of 1968), which substituted the preamble and enacting formula shown above in square brackets.

The provision on reopening of orders for eviction in certain cases, inserted by Act 7 of 1966 and printed after the Schedule in this copy, is not reproduced as a section on this page.

(1) No tenant against whom an application for eviction has been made by a landlord under section 11, shall be entitled to contest the application before the Rent Control Court under that section, or to prefer an appeal under section 18 against any order made by the Rent Control Court on the application, unless he has paid or pays to the landlord, or deposits with the Rent Control Court or the appellate authority, as the case may be, all arrears of rent admitted by the tenant to be due in respect of the building up to the date of payment or deposit, and continues to pay or to deposit any rent which may subsequently become due in respect of the building, until the termination of the proceedings before the Rent Control Court or the appellate authority, as the case may be.

(2) The deposit under sub-section (1) shall be made within such time as the Court may fix and in such manner as may be prescribed and shall be accompanied by the fee prescribed for the service of notice referred to in sub-section (4):

Provided that the time fixed by the Court for the deposit of the arrears of rent shall not be less than four weeks from the date of the order and the time fixed for the deposit of rent which subsequently accrues due shall not be less than two weeks from the date on which the rent becomes due.

(3) If any tenant fails to pay or to deposit the rent as aforesaid, the Rent Control Court or the appellate authority, as the case may be, shall, unless the tenant shows sufficient cause to the contrary, stop all further proceedings and make an order directing the tenant to put the landlord in possession of the building.

(4) When any deposit is made under sub-section (1), the Rent Control Court or the appellate authority, as the case may be, shall cause notice of the deposit to be served on the landlord in the prescribed manner, and the amount deposited may, subject to such conditions as may be prescribed, be withdrawn by the landlord on application made by him to the Rent Control Court or the appellate authority in that behalf.

Questions on this section

2 questions in 2 of our papers cite Section 12.

Practise questions on Kerala Local Laws