Guides

Landlords

Tenant not paying rent — and not vacating

The order the two problems have to be tackled in, the evidence to gather first, and the six things landlords do in month four that wreck their own case.

Anyone owed money on a cheque

A cheque you were given has bounced

The three Section 138 clocks and the date each one actually counts from, the five documents to gather, and the demand-amount mistake that spoils good cases.

Tenants

Landlord won't return your deposit

For tenants: what to ask for in writing, how to make him itemise a deduction, what the first step really costs against a deposit worth lakhs, and the Chennai deposit reality.

Plot owners

Someone is on your land

For plot owners on the Chennai outskirts: the patta, FMB sketch and EC to pull, how to prove what is happening with dates, and why waiting is the one dangerous option here.

Former employees

FnF settlement not paid after you left

For employees whose full-and-final settlement and documents went quiet at once: what to demand together, the one clock that matters, and what a formal notice costs against months of silence.

Freelancers & consultants

Client stopped paying, and stopped replying

For freelancers and consultants: what to send before a formal notice, the one clock that matters, and what a notice costs against a client who's gone quiet.

Anyone who received a notice

Is this legal notice real?

You received something that looks legal and frightening. How to tell a genuine notice from a fake, and what the real deadline is.

Borrowers

Loan app threats and harassment

Those messages are not legal notices. What is unlawful about the harassment, how to save evidence, and where to report it.

Anyone who received a document

Notice vs summons vs court order

Three very different documents that all feel like the same emergency. Which one you are holding, and how urgent it actually is.

For bank customers

Bank froze your account, or a debit you never made

The three-working-day RBI rule that decides whether you bear the loss, and what a frozen account needs instead.

For patients and families

Hospital overcharged you, or treatment went wrong

Which of the three forums can actually pay you, and the records to request before they get harder to obtain.

For any consumer

A wrong electricity bill

Electricity has its own free forum and its own Ombudsman. The order, the deadlines, and the evidence that decides it.

For travellers and senders

Courier lost your package, airline lost your bag

The caps to know before you argue, and the report you must file before you leave the airport.

For online buyers

You paid an online seller and got nothing

One question decides your whole route: is the seller identifiable, or has the account vanished? The fork, and what works on each side of it.

For flat owners and tenants

Your society is charging something odd

What a society's bye-laws actually let it do, and a ladder that does not start with a fight you have to live beside.

For employees, borrowers and tenants

You gave someone a blank or security cheque

Why “it was only security” is not by itself a defence, the two things that stop such a cheque being presented, and the point at which this stops being a document you buy and becomes an advocate's matter.

For employees and interns

Employer wants money before releasing you

A bond amount, a training cost, or a notice period you are told to buy out — what Section 74 says that figure is worth, and where this stops being a document you buy.

For employees and students

Employer or college holding your certificates

Separate the documents from the money, and the parallel step that removes the leverage entirely.

Everyone

What a legal notice actually costs in India

Real numbers, including what advocates commonly charge for the same first step, so you can judge the trade instead of guessing.

Anyone about to send one

How to send a legal notice yourself

You do not need a lawyer for this. What a notice is and is not, what has to be in it, how to serve it by Registered Post A.D., and what the acknowledgement card proves.

Landlords and tenants

Us vs the Tamil Nadu government portal

What tenancy.tn.gov.in does for free, what it does not do, and where a paid service is and isn't worth it.

Landlords and tenants

Rent Authority registration

Every tenancy in Tamil Nadu is meant to be registered with the Rent Authority, including 11-month agreements. The steps, the documents, and the fees.

Landlords

Tenant police verification

What it is, whether you have to do it, and how to get it done without a broker taking a cut for it.

Landlords and tenants

Rental agreement — post-signing checklist

The five things to do after a rental agreement is signed, your rights, and the order disputes are meant to escalate in.

Anyone sending a notice

After sending a legal notice

How to serve it, what proof of service to keep, and what your options are when the deadline passes.

Both sides of a dispute

After a settlement is agreed

Making a settlement stick — signatures, witnesses, records, and what to do when the other side stops honouring it.

Businesses and freelancers

After a business agreement is signed

Stamping, records, renewal dates, and the housekeeping that decides whether the document is any use in a dispute.