How Pandemic has affected Tenants in India

Amid the raging second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in India, migrant workers may once again find themselves being forced out of urban cities in India. With job loss and pay cuts, because of the economic crisis from the resurgence of more fatal variants of the Corona virus, the focus is again on tenants, who may never be able to pay their monthly rentals. Even though the government agencies and global thinking tanks continue to maintain that the economic impact of the COVID-19 second wave, would not be as adverse as seen during the first wave when millions of workers lost their incomes following a strict nationwide lockdown, numbers present a bleak picture. . The corona pandemic is an unexpected and unfortunate event to be noted, as tenants facing the lockdown which puts the situation much more worse and the rent condition is in the line where people can't even provide themselves with necessities. The clause Force majeure provides temporary reprieve to a party from performing its obligations under a contract. However, most tenancy agreements don’t have the provision of ‘force majeure’ and can never invoke the doctrine of frustration and so unless announcements are backed by ordinances, the uncertainty of its enforceability remains. Mere existence of a 'Force Majeure' clause does not secure the waiver for a tenant or lessee.