Things To Know About Rental Agreement In Delhi NCR

A rent agreement is an important document that needs to be studied by the landlord and the tenants while looking for or setting up their property for rent in Delhi. It states all the important terms and conditions that the landlord would like the tenant to follow. The Delhi Rent Control Act also states that the landlord should get the rental agreement registered and if they do not register it, a penalty of Rs. 5,000 may be levied on them or a jail term of three months. However, some tenets of the Rent Control Act state that both the parties should take the onus of registering the rent agreement. 

Who Should Get The Rental Agreement Registered?
There have been many questions arising as to which party among the two- landlord and the tenant, should get the rental agreement registered. If you are also a tenant, looking for a property for rent in Delhi or are a homeowner, renting out your property, here is something you would want to know about rental agreement registration. As the landlord-tenants laws fall under the purview of the State government (under Rental Control Act), different states have different laws for the party that would be responsible for rental agreement registration. So, it means only one thing- both parties, be it the tenant or the landlord, may have to take responsibility of getting the registration don from their state registrar depending on the state they are in. 

Why Tenants Need To Register Rental Agreement?
In many cases, tenants have been subjugated to untimely eviction at the hands of the landlords or homeowners. The Delhi Rent Code aims to protect and safeguard the tenants from facing such unlawful issue. In order to enjoy the protection granted by the Delhi Rent Code, the tenants need to get the rental agreement registered. Once the tenant has gotten the rental agreement registered, they can enjoy the provision of having their rent increased only once a year and not any more than that. The landlord would be liable to increase the rent as per the percentage or amount mentioned in the agreement irrespective of the rental value prevailing in the market. 

Why Landlords Need To Register Rental Agreement?
Not just the tenants, the landlords are also subjected to different types of fraudulent activities at the hands of the tenants. The landlord or homeowner should get the rent agreement registered in order to safeguard themselves from any unscrupulous or unlawful activities of the tenants. Whether the tenant defaults in paying rent, harms your property or makes any type of fuss, you can include everything in the rent agreement beforehand and ensure that your interests are served without any problem. Once you have gotten the rent agreement registered, it is easy to use it in your defense in case anything wrong happens during the tenure of their rent. Moreover, if the tenants are signing a lease of more than 11 months and are not willing to get the rent agreement registered, the landlord is liable to get it registered as per the Section 17 of the Registration Act 1908. 

Understanding the Delhi Rent Control Act
The rent agreement is equally required to safeguard the interests of both the tenant and the landlord. Therefore, it won’t be wrong to state that both the parties should not just be equally participating in registering the rent agreement. However, it is the landlord who is more responsible for registering the rental agreement as not doing so would cause him more harm than the tenant because the Delhi rent code is more in favor of the tenant than the owner. 

According to the Founder and Corporate Lawyer of Mukesh Jain and Associates, a research-driven Real Estate Valuation and Advisory services Company, “As per Section 4 of the Delhi Rent Control Act, 1995, it is mandatory to enter into a written rental agreement and to register it. In case of rent agreement of fewer than 5 years, if the tenant fails to vacate the property after the expiry of the rental agreement, the landlord can approach the Rent Authority which will enforce the terms of the agreement. In the absence of the registered agreement, the consequences of non-registration of a document under the Registration Act, 1908 shall follow. As the unregistered document is not admissible in evidence, the Rent Authority has no power to evict the tenant. The landlord shall have to follow the lengthy process of eviction under Sec.106 of Transfer of Property Act, 1882 applicable to leases.”