RD 28 Feb 2021
Helloworld Technologies India Pvt. Ltd. sent us a mail on 13th Feb`21 about an increase of the rent from 1st March`21 due to market demands in one of its property named `HelloWorld Daffodil` in HSR Layout, Bengaluru. Although I have a rent agreement created on 13th Dec`20 which is for the period of 11 months i.e until 13th Nov`21 at a rent agreed on INR 10,000. They have issued an immediate 40% rent increase from the following month i.e March`21 which makes my rent go up to INR 14,000 from the initial agreement of INR 10,000. This is unlawful as the rent agreement clause 12 clearly states "ENTIRE AGREEMENT: The terms and provisions along with any annexures issued pursuant thereto form the entire and final Agreement between the Parties. No modification, amendment, or waiver of any provisions of this Agreement will be effective unless made in writing with mutual consent." However, their counter-argument for this is clause 17 from the rent agreement which states "HelloWorld reserves the right to modify, suspend, or discontinue temporarily or permanently, some or all of its policies as it may deem fit, with respect to any or all users, without any prior intimation." To this clause, it does not mean RENT can be increased as per their wish, if it was, they should have mentioned it explicitly. Also, RENT is not a policy else what`s the agreement for then? Now to all this, they say you can move out if you`re not willing to pay the updated rent. We all can see what they are up to here, with just 15 days of notice they want us to either pay the updated rent or move out. With this, If I now choose to pay the updated rent for the remaining period of 9 months until the rent agreement gets over, I would suffer a loss of INR 36,000. Else If I choose to move out, they will charge INR 5,000 as move-out charges. Also, I haven`t added the moving charges which I would have to incur just because of them. On top of this, it has added mental stress on me working full-time to search for other accommodations immediately which is really difficult for me right now. They are all doing this for entirely their own benefit to reap as much as they can from the tenants lawfully or unlawfully. Otherwise, they always have an option to evict you anytime. For the resolution, I am currently looking forward to: 1. Staying at the same rent i.e INR 10,000 as per the agreement signed until the term gets over i.e 13th Nov`21. OR 2. Staying at the same rent i.e INR 10,000 until I find better accommodations to move in with no move-out charges levied.