# Tenants Said Owner Lived Abroad. Patna HC Upheld Eviction By Saurabh Garg, founder·7 min read·Published 2026-10-02 **Short answer:** On 29 September 2026 the Patna High Court upheld the eviction of a college from a Bhagalpur building whose eleven-month lease ended on 31 October 2008. The tenants argued the owner did not need the building because he lived in Patna, had lived abroad with his son, and had sold other land. The court held that taking rent after a fixed-term lease ends does not by itself renew the tenancy, and that a landlord is entitled to choose the premises that suit him, so residence elsewhere, including abroad, does not defeat a bona fide need under the Bihar rent law. The tenants were ordered out. # The Tenants Said He Lived Abroad and Did Not Need the Building. The Patna High Court Upheld His Eviction Decree. **A college ran for decades in a Bhagalpur building on short leases. The last one ended on 31 October 2008. When the owner, retired and pleading that he was in his eighties, asked for the building back, the tenants said he lived in Patna, had lived abroad with his son and had sold other land, so he had no real need. On 29 September 2026 the Patna High Court upheld his eviction decree. Taking rent after the lease ended did not renew it, and a landlord chooses the premises that suit him.** ## The case The order is in Civil Revision No. 106 of 2025, *Shambhu Nath Jha v. Syed Md. Ahsanuddin*, a CAV order of Justice Ramesh Chand Malviya of the Patna High Court, dated 29 September 2026. It runs to 24 pages. The revision was filed by the college's professor in charge, one of the defendants, under Section 115 of the Code of Civil Procedure read with Section 14(8) of the Bihar Buildings (Lease, Rent and Eviction) Control Act, 1982. It challenged the judgment of 21 January 2025 and decree of 6 February 2025 of the Sub-Judge-IX, Bhagalpur, in Title Eviction Suit No. 1 of 2013, which ordered the tenants to vacate within 60 days. The owner's address in the cause title is Kankarbagh Colony, Patna. The claim that he lived abroad comes from the tenants' pleadings: that he had been living in Patna with his son and had started "residing outside the country" with his son, now in Saudi Arabia and the United Kingdom (paragraphs 5 and 6.ii). ## The facts As the order records them (paragraphs 3, 4 and 7): - The owner holds a building at Mohalla Quaziwalichak, Bhagalpur, recorded as Plot No. 442 in Khata No. 27 after the municipal survey published on 18 June 1985. - Inter Mahila Mahavidyalaya, a girls' college, has run there since 1984-85. The college says that in 1987 the owner agreed it could convert the tiled structure into a pucca building at its own cost and that he would donate the building if the college ran for at least twenty years. He never did. - The last lease, on Rs 5 stamp paper, ran for eleven months from 1 December 2007 to 31 October 2008 at Rs 4,006 a month, and said the tenants would hand over vacant possession at the end. - The owner says that on retiring from government service he had nowhere else to live, and asked for the building on 31 October 2008, on 20 November 2011 and on 2 December 2012. The tenants refused and he sued in 2013, on two grounds: the lease had expired, and he needed the building for himself. ## What the tenants argued - After 31 October 2008 the owner kept taking Rs 4,006 a month by cheque, which made it a month-to-month tenancy (paragraph 6.i). - He had no real need: he lived in Patna and abroad, and had sold about 9,778 sq ft of land in Bhagalpur by a registered deed of 6 December 2012, a month before the suit (paragraphs 5 and 6.ii). - The college had built the pucca structure at its own cost on the promise of a gift, and closing a government-aided girls' college should weigh against eviction (paragraphs 6.iv to 6.vii). ## What the court held - Rent after expiry. The trial court held that "mere acceptance of rent after expiry of a fixed-term lease does not, in the absence of a fresh agreement, amount to renewal of tenancy" or turn it into a month-to-month tenancy under Section 116 of the Transfer of Property Act. The tenants stayed only as statutory tenants. The High Court found no perversity in that finding (paragraph 10). - Need, and living elsewhere. A defence witness admitted the owner has no other premises in Bhagalpur. The 2012 sale was of a different property and had no bearing on the need. On "the plaintiff's residence abroad", the High Court held that the trial court was right to rule that "a landlord is entitled to choose the premises that would best suit his requirement" and that an alternative residence does not defeat bona fide need under Section 11(1)(c) of the Act, read with Explanation II (paragraph 11). - No partial eviction. The tenants never pleaded it, and in any case a home for an owner in his eighties and his visiting family cannot be split. "Residence, unlike a commercial user, does not admit of fragmentation without defeating the very purpose of occupation" (paragraph 12). - The promised gift. The college produced no document of the 1987 promise and filed no counter-claim, so the plea was outside the eviction suit (paragraph 13). The revision was dismissed, the eviction decree was affirmed and any interim protection was vacated (paragraphs 15 and 16). No costs (paragraph 17). ## What it means for an NRI owner The common fear of an owner who lives abroad is that a tenant will say: you live overseas, you do not need this flat. In this case the tenants said the owner lived in Patna and abroad. The court held that a landlord chooses the premises that suit him, and that having another residence does not by itself defeat his need. Two cautions. The order applies the Bihar rent law, and each state's rent law sets its own grounds for eviction. And the owner here proved his need with his own evidence and a defence witness's admission, while the court made no finding of its own on where he lived. The ruling also confirms that taking rent after a lease ends, without a fresh agreement, did not create a new tenancy here. Our guides on [evicting a tenant in India](/guides/how-to-evict-tenant-india-nri) and [managing tenants from abroad](/guides/managing-tenants-from-abroad) cover the steps. The Delhi High Court rulings on [an inherited tenanted property](/guides/nri-delhi-inherited-tenanted-property-eviction-high-court-sep-2026) and on [a tenant's claimed oral promise](/guides/nri-landlord-permanent-tenancy-oral-promise-delhi-high-court-sep-2026) set out the same questions under Delhi law. An eviction of your own tenant belongs with a lawyer who knows the rent law of the state your property is in. ## FAQ **What did the Patna High Court decide on 29 September 2026?** It dismissed a civil revision filed by the college's professor in charge, a defendant, and upheld a Bhagalpur court's decree evicting a college from a building whose eleven-month lease ended on 31 October 2008. **Does taking rent after a lease ends renew it?** The court upheld the finding that mere acceptance of rent after a fixed-term lease expires does not, without a fresh agreement, renew the tenancy or turn it into a month-to-month tenancy under Section 116 of the Transfer of Property Act. **Does living abroad defeat a landlord's claim that he needs the property?** Under the Bihar rent law, the court upheld the ruling that a landlord is entitled to choose the premises that suit him and that another residence does not defeat bona fide need. **Where is the NRI in this case?** The tenants pleaded that the owner had lived abroad with his son in Saudi Arabia and the United Kingdom. His address in the cause title is Patna, and the court made no separate finding on where he lived. **Can a court order eviction from only part of a building?** Not here. The tenants never pleaded it, and the court held that a residence cannot be split without defeating its purpose. *66 MG Road newsdesk* ## Sources - *Shambhu Nath Jha v. Syed Md. Ahsanuddin*, Civil Revision No. 106 of 2025, Patna High Court, Ramesh Chand Malviya J, CAV order dated 29 September 2026, 24 pages. Full text, carrying the Patna High Court page header on every page, read on 2 October 2026: [https://indiankanoon.org/doc/62467477/](https://indiankanoon.org/doc/62467477/) - Paragraph 6 of the order first dates the lease 1 February 2007 and later in the same paragraph 1 December 2007; paragraphs 4, 7 and 10 give 1 December 2007, which we use. Paragraph 5 mixes the tenants' written statements with a description of the owner; we attribute the claim that he lived abroad to the tenants, as paragraph 6.ii does. About the author: [Saurabh Garg](/about) Saurabh Garg has run the venture studio C4E for twenty years. He founded 66 MG Road in 2026, reads every proposal request, and replies within one business day. [saurabhgarg.com](https://saurabhgarg.com) · [@saurabh](https://x.com/saurabh) · [LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/in/saurabhgarg) Information on this page is as on 2026-10-02. Rules, rates, deadlines and government portals change without notice, so verify against the official source before you act. This page is for information only. It is not tax or legal advice, and it is not a substitute for a qualified adviser who knows your position. ## Related guides - [How to Evict a Tenant in India as an NRI (When They Refuse to Vacate)](/guides/how-to-evict-tenant-india-nri) - [NRI Rental Property Management: The Honest Operating Guide](/guides/managing-tenants-from-abroad) - [Delhi High Court: Heirs Who Inherit a Tenanted Shop Need Only a Better Title Than the Tenant](/guides/nri-delhi-inherited-tenanted-property-eviction-high-court-sep-2026) - [A Tenant Said the Owner's Husband Promised It the Flat for Ever. The Delhi High Court Said That Needs a Registered Deed.](/guides/nri-landlord-permanent-tenancy-oral-promise-delhi-high-court-sep-2026) ## Compare and cost - [The NRI Property Management Companies in India: A Comparison You Can Check](/guides/best-nri-property-management-companies-india) - [What NRI Property Management Costs in India: The Four Models and What Hides in Each](/guides/nri-property-management-cost-india) - [NoBroker NRI Services Review: What the Pages Promise and What They Leave Out](/guides/nobroker-nri-services-review) --- Source: [https://66mgroad.com/guides/nri-landlord-abroad-bona-fide-need-eviction-patna-high-court-sep-2026](https://66mgroad.com/guides/nri-landlord-abroad-bona-fide-need-eviction-patna-high-court-sep-2026) · 66 MG Road. Full LLM brief: https://66mgroad.com/llms.txt