Landlord and broker wrongfully took money in the form of deduction from Security Deposit
Since March 2024, I was staying in 2BHK flat in Andheri East (Society -Vasant Oasis), Mumbai. Three other people were staying with me in the same flat as below:
1.Amar Kumar Sinha
2. Sachin kumar khichi with his girlfriend Ocean Sharma. (Ocean's name was not in the agreement but we allowed Sachin to keep her on the condition that she would have to share internal expenses like food, bills, maintenance etc.)
Due to internal tensions related to the shared expenses of electricity bill, cook's salary, groceries etc. I had to leave the flat on September 7 after staying there for 6 months.
The broker promised me that my share of deposit Rs 66667 would be returned within 4-5 days. But after about three weeks, The broker, Amar and Sachin called for a meeting at the flat at 5:30 pm in the evening. I now stay in Navi Mumbai and it takes me almost 3 hours to reach Andheri by train. So, I told them to schedule the meeting on holidays. But they formed the meeting and told me that they would be deducting around 25000 Rs from my security deposit. I refused and went to the owner's house. And another meeting was called on 2nd October, 2024. When I went there, neither the broker nor Amar & Sachin were interested in seeing my proofs and they were adamant on deducting Rs25000. I somehow managed to get the deductible amount to 20000. After 3 hours of discussion, I had to catch the last train back to my house. So, I asked them to continue later but they threatened me that if I leave at that point of time then they would deduct as per their will. I warned for poilce complaint but they kept threatening me. After 2 two days, they deducted Rs 20132 from my security deposit and cut me off.
The deducted amount consisted of:
1. Unfair electricity bill share because I was not using AC and the other three people were.
2. Unfair maintenance charge because I had already informed the broker about maintenance issues when we entered the flat.
3.Unfair double charges of grocery expenses, cook's salary share.
4. False charges of personal belongings like mattress etc.
5. Double payment of agreement registration charges.
Apart from this, they were continuing living on the basis of the previous rent agreement which had my name. When I asked them to register a new agreement after I had left, they told me that they would register a new clause from the back date of march 2024. As per my knowledge, it is illegal to register an agreement from the back date. Correct me if I am wrong.
Then I went to the police station, with all the proof, in Navi Mumbai. Police refused to take my complaint. They told me to go to the police station in Andheri. Again Andheri is 3 hour travelling distance far (via. Train) from my current residence. The Andheri Police station is telling me to go to the office of Grihanirman Bhawan, Konkan Bhawan in Bandra, which is at a travelling distance of 4.5 hrs (via. Train) from my current residence in Navi Mumbai.
Kindly tell me what to do ?