Under Partnership Act, every partner is bound to carry on the business of the firm to the greatest common advantage, to be just and faithful to each other. What the partner is doing is fraud and is bound to indemnify the firm for the loss caused by fraud. Any partner making personal profit out to business of firm is bound to account for it. If it is feasible you can throw the fraudster partner out and recover any loss suffered due to his fraud. You have already issued  notice  to landlord to vacate the premised by 21 March 2021 and thereby terminated the lease agreement.  You can continue in the leased premises but then the rent will not be the agreed rent, the landlord can impose his rent as long as you stay in the premises. You certainly have a case against the said partner. You can proceed against him in criminal Court for cheating under Section 420 and collect the loss due to fraud by the partner. You can also file civil case for recovery of loss under Section 10 of Partnership Act.

For resolution of dispute among partners, the firm need not be registered under Partnership Act. You can take all the measures against the partner available to a registered FIR.

in my view the contract under the lease deed got novated

originally it was agreed in the lease deed that both parties have to give 3 months termination notice

however it appears that the lessee did not give such 3 months notice and issued a notice stating an earlier period for the reason that the business operations have ceased

that lesser notice was accepted by the lessor as he did not object against the termination notice of the lessee containing a period less than 3 months

therefore the lessor having accepted the termination notice from the lessee which is not in accordance with the stipulation as regards 3 months termination notice in the lease deed, the lessor is within his right to require the lessee to vacate the premises immediately

now the lessee cannot turn around and say that the lease deed contains a 3 months stipulation

it appears that the lessee on learning that the landlord has contracted with the dissenting partner, the lessee now wants to sabotage that by raising the bogey of 3 months notice, when the lessee himself did not adhere to the 3 months stipulation in the first place

a contract has to be followed in letter and spirit and it cannot be at the convenience of one party

You have to vacate premises on expiry of 3 month notice period 

you cannot be forced to vacate premises immediately 

even if landlord files case against you for eviction it would take 2 years to be disposed of 

landlord can on expiry of your agreement give premises to third party 

Dear Sir,

1) If you have provided the three months notice on 31 march, the you have right to hold the property for three months.

2) The landlord cannot force you out of the property before three months.

3) If you hold the property after three months the landlord has right to file case against you for eviction.

4) The landlord can enter agreement with third party but cannot grant possession of the property until the three months time as stipulated in the contract expires.

Thank you

- As per Section 27 of the Indian Contracts Act, all agreements restraining exercise of a lawful profession, trade or business are invalid.

- Further, a partner is an agent only or the purpose of business of the firm. He is not an agent for all transactions and dealings between the partners themselves.

- Hence, without taking consent of other partners , that partner cannot run the business solely on behalf of the firm.

- Further, the said landlord cannot enter into any agreement with that partner without taking consent from all other partners . 

- Further, the said landlord also cannot enter into a lease agreement without giving a notice to you. 

- You should send a legal notice to the said landlord and to claim damages from him 

- Further, you can get a restrained order from the court after filing an Injunction suit before the court against the landlord. 

- Further , you can also lodge a compliant before the police against that partner for the offence of breach of agreement and fraud /misappropriation etc. as well. 

You have to think to do:

1. You have to file a suit for the execution of the agreement against the landlord and you can file breach of agreement compensation suit again in this regard because during the current currency of the agreement the landlord cannot enter into an agreement with any party without the express permission from the present please holder.

2. You can also file Suit against a non Cooperative partner who has made the agreement with the landlord without taking no objection certificate from other partners to drink the period of concurrence of the leads you can also claim compensation for the breach of agreement

If you have already served notice on the landlord for vacating the leased premises and have also intimated that you will be delivering vacant possession o the landlord on a specific date, which is already crossed as on date, you cannot claim any rights over the property as a tenant because your landlord has already accepted the notice issued by you to vacate the premises.

However what made you not to vacate the premises despite giving a deadline to landlord.

If the landlord is entering into a fresh lease agreement with a new tenant especially after you have confirmed through a letter head of your firm about vacating the premises that too on a dated specified in the said letter/notice, if your intimidation had been accepted by the landlord, then legally your lease agreement stands terminated as on the date specified by you. 

It would be better that you move out your machinery from the leased premises and settle all the issues of the partnership firm upon dissolution of the firm as per the terms and conditions of the partnership deed.

Your query: Can he do that legally or should he give us 3 month notice for the same?

Ans. Yes, he is legally entitled to do that because you all gave a letter/notice (on letter head) to landlord informing him that you will surrender the possession on 31.03.2021 which your landlord willingly accepted. So, whatever it was decided earlier as per the lease deed would not be applicable now because the lease has apparently got terminated in the changed circumstances. Therefore, he is not bound to give 3 months notice as per the lease deed.

Your query: Can we take any action against the said partner?

Ans. You can but as of now you all don’t have a strong ground to initiate proceedings against the said partner.

You query: if we hold the premises for sometime because our machine are there, what would be the legal repercussions?

Ans: Your landlord can file a suit for eviction against you.   

Your Query: Can the landlord do the agreement with a third party without giving notice to us?

Ans:  Yes, absolutely. As explained above, the lease has got terminated by act of both the parties so, the landlord is now free to do agreement with any third party without giving notice to you all.

Hope this satisfies all your queries! All the best!

- No, he cannot do , and you can file a suit for restraining him from taking any illegal steps of dispossession . 

- Yes, any of you can file 

- You can hold the premises till the time of payment of lease amount to the landlord. 

- Landlord cannot file a compliant before the police for dispossessing you against your consent. 

notice on letterhead superseded the stipulation contained in the registered lease deed

just because a lease deed is registered, it cannot be construed that the parties cannot mutually alter its terms, unless it is specifically stated in the lease deed itself then any modification to the lease deed will be valid only if its reduced to writing and signed by the parties

landlord cannot vacate premises forcefully. he has to follow the due process of law

the partnership firm can independently file the suit against the landlord. the dissenting partner has to be added as a defendant party

in case of settlement, the parties can submit consent terms and obtain a consent order instead of simply withdrawing the suit

you can hold the premises till the time stated in your termination notice, which i believe is already lapsed. now you are occupying the premises as unauthorised occupant since by your own letter, which was accepted by the lessor,you have surrendered your lease rights

the partnership firm can file a common suit against the landlord and the dissenting partner. but dont know how such a suit will stand the scrutiny of law when you yourself have issued a termination notice to the landlord which you do not want to implement now just because you learnt that your dissenting partner and the landlord have joined hands

landlord has remedies both under civil as well as criminal law against you. however the police will not interfere citing it is a civil dispute 

Landlord cannot take forcible possession of premises 

record his threats file poluce complaint against landlord 

yiu can file suit seek injunction against st landlord disturbing your possession 

you can always withdraw suit later 

Dear Sir,

1) Your occupation is legal until the three months as per the agreement. After that you will be an unauthorized occupant.

2) The landlord cannot force your goods out, he can only do so through due process of law, ie filing an eviction suit/ or suit for possession

3) You as partnership can file suit for immediate possession and injunction against landlord and colluding partner. You can withdraw it if you arrive at settlement.

4) The police will not take his case as it is civil matter, landlord can only file suit in court.

5) You can file suit against partner, a criminal suit will be filed under Sec 420 of IPC, if the partner commits cheating, or acted dishonestly and also under Sec 406 of IPC for criminal breach and a civil suit for recovery of money/damages.

Thank you

Legally the landlord cannot move the property out of the leased premises without informing or notifying the tenants.

However if one of the tenants is agreeing to vacate on behalf of other partners then the landlord can ask the tenant to move the items out of the leased premises.

The landlord cannot approach police for this civil matter.

The aggrieved partners can approach court with a suit for permanent injunction against the landlord to restrain him from forcibly evicting the tenants other than by due process of law.