Assignment of pre-transfer rent arrears can support eviction, and tenants cannot collaterally challenge the landlord's title.

Section 109 of the Transfer of Property Act permits a transferee of the lessor's interest to step into the landlord's rights, and where the right to recover pre-transfer arrears is assigned, those arrears remain recoverable as rent and may be counted in eviction for default. The record showed that the transferor informed the tenants of the transfer together with the arrears, and the transferee demanded payment, supporting a valid assignment of that right. Tenants who had attorned to the transferor could not collaterally dispute her title or the validity of the auction sale in the eviction proceedings. The eviction decree was sustained on the basis of the transferee's entitlement and the tenants' continuing default.

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Issues: (i) Whether the transferee landlord could treat rent accrued before transfer as arrears of rent for purposes of eviction when the right to recover those arrears had been assigned. (ii) Whether the tenants could dispute the transferor's title and the validity of the auction sale in these eviction proceedings.

Issue (i): Whether the transferee landlord could treat rent accrued before transfer as arrears of rent for purposes of eviction when the right to recover those arrears had been assigned.

Analysis: Section 109 of the Transfer of Property Act, read with its proviso, allows the transferee of the lessor's interest to step into the lessor's rights, while ordinarily excluding arrears due before transfer unless there is a contract or assignment to the contrary. On the facts, the transferor had informed the tenants that the property was transferred along with the arrears of rent and the transferee had demanded payment of those arrears. The finding of assignment of the right to recover arrears was supported by the record. Once such right was assigned, the arrears retained their character as rent and could be relied upon in eviction proceedings under the rent law.

Conclusion: The transferee landlord was entitled to recover the pre-transfer arrears as arrears of rent, and those arrears counted towards the tenants' default.

Issue (ii): Whether the tenants could dispute the transferor's title and the validity of the auction sale in these eviction proceedings.

Analysis: The tenants had previously attorned to the transferor and paid rent to her. The validity of the auction sale in her favour had not been set aside in any appropriate proceeding, and the tenants could not collaterally challenge that sale in the eviction suit. In the absence of proof that the sale was void or that the property was evacuee property, the transferor's title stood and the subsequent transfer to the respondent was effective.

Conclusion: The tenants were not entitled to dispute the title or the auction sale in these proceedings.

Final Conclusion: The eviction decree was sustained because the respondent's title and entitlement to the pre-transfer arrears were upheld, and the tenants remained in default for more than six months.

Ratio Decidendi: Where the right to recover pre-transfer rent is assigned to the transferee, those arrears remain recoverable as rent for eviction purposes under the rent law.

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