Hrishi Kapadia, MIT WPU School of Law
Introduction
A commercial lease refers to the contract whereby a party obtains the right to use certain premises owned by the other party, for the purpose of carrying out business activities. Section 105 of the Transfer of Property Act, 1881 defines the term lease, lessor and lessee, the same is quoted below verbatim.
“A lease of immoveable property is a transfer of a right to enjoy such property, made for a certain time, express or implied, or in perpetuity, in consideration of a price paid or promised, …, service or any other thing of value, to be rendered periodically or on specified occasions to the transferor by the transferee. The transferor is called the lessor, the transferee is called the lessee, … the money, share, service or other thing to be so rendered is called the rent.”
Commercial leases are primarily governed by the Transfer of Property Act, 1881 (TOPA) and in Maharashtra specifically, this contract falls under the ambit of the Maharashtra Rent Control Act, 1999 (MRCA).
