LAND LAW

RENT CONTROL LAWS IN INDIA: A CRIRICAL ANALYSIS

Dr. Ram Manohar Lohia National Law University

Lucknow (India)
2019-2020
Submitted by: Submitted to:

PRANAV BHANSALI DR. SHAKUNTALA SANGAM

Section-B Assistant Professor

Enroll- 160101109 Dr. Ram Manohar Lohia

9TH Semester National Law University

 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

A major research project like this is never the work of anyone alone. Firstly, I would like to

thank respected Asst. Professor SHAKUNTALA SANGAM, for giving me such a golden

opportunity to show my skills and capability through this project.

This project is the result of the extensive ultrapure study, hard work and labour, put into to make

it worth reading. This project has been completed through the generous co-operation of various

persons, especially my seniors, who, in their different potentials helped me a lot in giving the

finishing touch to the project.

This project couldn’t be completed without the help of my university’s library Dr. Madhu

Limaye Library and its internet facility.

‘I am glad to have made it’

Thanking You........
 Contents-

1. Abstract
2. Introduction: What is rent control?
3. How did it originate?
4. The Legal Aspects of Rent Control
5. Legal Arguments against Rent Control
6. Rental Agreement
7. Rights and Duties of Landlords

8. Rights and Duties of Tenants

9. Conclusion
10. Bibliography
 Abstract
The paper aims to answer about, what is the current status of rent control laws in India and what
are their main provisions when compared with each other and to the Model Rent Control Law.
Introduction: What is rent control?
The practice of imposing a legal maximum (rent ceiling) upon the rent in a particular housing
market, below the equilibrium rent is called rent control. If this maximum is above that market’s
equilibrium rent (different rental housing markets may have different equilibrium rents), then the
control is null and void. But if the rent is set at a level below the equilibrium rent, it will
necessarily lead to a situation of excess demand or shortage. In a free market, prices (here, rents)
would rise automatically filling the gap between the demand and the supply. But rent controls
prevent prices from rising up to the equilibrium level and thus, alternative rationing mechanisms
such as black and uncontrolled markets evolve.
A raging debate has been going on over the years over the pros and cons of rent control. While
the proponents of rent control laws suggest that they prevent landlords from charging exorbitant
rents and evicting tenants at will, the opponents suggest that rent control laws, by distorting
incentives, lead to deterioration of existing housing stock, increased pullout of apartments from
the rental housing market and thus reduced overall supply.
Murphy’s law of Economic Policy states that “Economists have the least influence on policy
where they know the most and are most agreed; they have the most influence on policy where
they know the least and disagree most vehemently”.1 While most economists agree that rent
controls are bad2 , nothing of note has been done towards deregulating rents, especially in India.
Also, the sheer diversity of rent control laws existing in various states and countries, coupled
with phenomenal economic diversity makes it very difficult to generalize the argument across
borders, and thus makes the task of policy makers that much more difficult.
A 1986 U.N. study estimated that about 42 percent of the world’s urban dwellers were renters. It
was not known how many of those 150 million households lived under rent control regimes, but
preliminary research suggested that the proportion is as high as 30 percent. These numbers can
reasonably be expected to have increased with the passage of time. Thus, it necessitates to see
why rent control laws came into being and why it has been persisting for such a long time. This
paper gains motivation from such curiosity and envisage a change to improve its impact.
How did it originate?
Rent controls were introduced in the early 1900s in the United States and some other parts of the
world to check uninhibited rent increases and tenant eviction during wartime housing
emergencies. After World War II, there was a sudden increase in the demand for rentable
housing from soldiers returning home. With industrialization and corresponding urbanization,
1
A Rent Affair, Paul Krugman, The Unofficial Paul Krugman Web Page,
http://www.pkarchive.org/column/6700.html
2
In a late-seventies poll of 211 economists published in the May 1979 issue of American Economic
Review, slightly more than 98 percent of U.S. respondents agreed that "a ceiling on rents reduces the
quantity and quality of housing available”. Rent Control, Walter Block, The Concise Encyclopedia of
Economics, http://www.econlib.org/library/Enc/RentControl.html#box%201
there was an increase in rural-urban migrations. To prevent rents from rising too much owing to
this spurt in demand, Rent Control Acts (RCAs), under various names were introduced in many
countries. These were called the first-generation rent controls. Those introduced later were called
the second-generation rent controls or soft rent controls, because they provided for some leeway
in rent increases and tenant landlord relationship.
The first rent control legislation in India was introduced immediately after the First World War
in Bombay in 1918. It was followed by similar legislations for Calcutta and Rangoon in 1920. By
the end of the Second World War almost all the major cities and towns in the countries were
covered by rent control measures. All these acts, born out of the inflationary aftermath of the
First World War, were conceived as purely temporary measures to provide relief to the tenants
against the demand of exorbitant rent and indiscriminate eviction by the landlords due to scarcity
of houses in the urban areas.
As in other parts of the globe, the rent control laws applicable in various states in India are
different with respect to various aspects and thus, a holistic analysis, though attempted here, is
difficult.
The Legal Aspects of Rent Control
Under the Indian Constitution, housing (provision of) is a state subject. Thus, the enactment and
enforcement of rent control laws is the responsibility of the individual states. While this is in
accordance with the federal nature of the Indian Republic, it makes a comparative analysis of the
rent control laws that much more difficult. The common thread running through almost all rent
control Acts and legislations is that they are intended to serve two purposes:

1. To protect the tenant from eviction from the house where he is living except for defined
reasons and on defined conditions; and
2. 2. To protect him from having to pay more than a fair/standard rent.

But most acts also confer upon the landlord the right to evict a tenant who is guilty of certain
specified acts and also when the landlord requires the house for his own personal occupation.
There are various grounds under which a landlord can evict a tenant. The most common of these
are listed below. There are also some states, where one or more of the provisions given below
don’t apply. (Refer to Annexure 4, column 5)
1. Breach of condition of tenancy
2. Subletting
3. Default in payment of rent for specified period
4. Requirement of building for own occupation
5. Material deterioration in the condition of the building

The landlord is required to specify the exact provision of the relevant act under which he is
seeking the eviction of the tenant, to enable the tenant to take any remedial action provided in the
act. The whole idea of a rent control act is to control and regulate eviction of tenants and not to
stop it altogether.
Exemptions have been granted to various sections of the Rental Housing Market (henceforth,
also referred to as RHM) under many of the Rent Control Acts (henceforth, also referred to as
RCAs):

 Properties belonging to the government

 Any tenancy created by a grant from the Government in respect of the premises taken on
lease or requisitioned, by the Government
 Newly constructed properties for a period of ten years (in Delhi) from the date of
construction. This period may vary from state to state.
 Any premises, residential or other, whose monthly rent exceeds three thousand and five
hundred rupees (in Delhi). The amount may vary from state to state.
One bone of contention over the years has been the feature of most Rent Control Acts to grant
exemptions to the properties owned by the government. While some say that this is a
discriminatory practice, their argument is dismissed by the assertion that the government is not
expected to raise rents or eject tenants in the pursuit of higher revenues. Thus, tenants of
government owned properties are in no need of protection.
Legal Arguments against Rent Control
1. The Flawed Nature of Rent Control Acts: The structure of various rent control acts renders
them contradictory to other laws of the land in some situations:
a. The law relating to the landlord’s rights to evict the tenant can be found in the
Transfer of Property Act, 1882. While a landlord can immediately start an
action for eviction of a tenant on expiry of the notice of eviction under Section
106 of the Transfer of Property Act, 1882, he cannot start such an action where
the rent control act applies, unless he can prove the existence of one of the
grounds of eviction under the Rent Act.
b. Some provisions of these acts have been repeatedly denounced by the courts as
unreasonable. E.g. The Supreme Court, while delivering its judgment on
December 19, 1997 on appeals filed by several property owners in Mumbai, said
that the existing provisions of the Act that related to the determining and fixing of
the "standard rent" were "no longer reasonable".3 (Refer to Annexure 5, row 20,
column 4)
c. The various acts relating to the control of accommodation in urban areas
including the Rent Control Acts are examples of legislation interfering with the
right to hold and dispose of property under Article 19(1)(f) of the Constitution of
India. But such acts exist because they are considered to be necessary in public
interest in times of shortage of houses.
2. Ineffectiveness of the Provisions: The provisions have not been very effective due to the
following reasons:
3
R. Padmanabhan, A Rent Act Under Review, Frontline, Apr 11-24, 1998,
http://www.hinduonnet.com/fline/fl1508/15081080.htm
 a) Significantly large urban groups have been excluded from the purview of RCAs. E.g. The
Delhi Rent Control Act (including all amendments) grants exemption to the following
tenancies (for full list, refer to Annexure 3, row 4):
•Properties belonging to the government
• Any tenancy created by a grant from the Government in respect of the premises
taken on lease or requisitioned, by the Government
• Newly constructed properties for a period of ten years from the date of
construction.
• Any premises, residential or other, whose monthly rent exceeds three thousand
and five hundred rupees.
Besides the above, exemptions are granted to religious and ethnic institutions also. E.g. in Bihar,
the properties owned by Digambar and Shwetambar Jain Trusts are exempted from all provisions
of the Bihar Building (Lease, Rent and Eviction) Control Act, 1982. (Refer to Annexure 3, row
3, column 4). Although properties in the informal markets (slum settlements) are not ‘exempted’
from the provision of the act, for all practical purposes they are considered to be outside the
purview of the act. The argument behind this is that for the people (usually lower income group)
living in these areas the opportunity cost of going to court is very high and legal illiteracy is
rampant.
b) Under most of the RCAs there is nothing illegal about charging a rent higher than the
standard rent. Standard rents are fixed by the Rent Controller, only if the tenant or the
landlord approaches him for this purpose. Even if there are no provisions in the RCA for
increasing rents over time, the tenants often agree to an increase in rents to maintain good
relations with the landlord. (Refer to Annexure 5, column 3)

c) Another way in which this act is made ineffective is through the prevalent system of
lump sum payments at the beginning of the tenancy period. Such payments are illegal,
e.g. under Section 5 of the Delhi RCA, which permits only one month’s advance. But in
the RHM of Delhi, an advance of 6 months’ rent is quite common.4

d) Often the renting of the house is done under the Transfer of Property Act 1882 and a
“Leave and License Contract” is drawn with the tenant. The period of the lease ranges
from 11 months to 33 months and is renewed at the expiry of the contract period. This
contract however has no validity under the Delhi RCA or other RCAs.

e) Often landlords make the non-issuance of rent receipt a prerequisite for renting out
apartments. Thus, in the event of a conflict the case of the tenant is weakened by a great
extent.

f) The eviction procedure is usually very long and tiresome. And there is a lock in period
after eviction, during which the landlord cannot relit the house. Thus, if a landlord wants
to relit the house at a higher rent, he’ll avoid going to court, and revert to the following

4
Payment of rent in advance is different from the deposit of rent in the jargon of RCAs. A tenant is
entitled to deposit rent with the rent controller if he faces difficulty in payment of rent to the rightful
landlord. But he is not liable to pay more than one month’s rent in advance (in most states).
 illegal methods: • Pay reverse ‘ pugree ’5 to the tenant to induce him to vacate the
apartment. This is an illegal practice, just as ‘ pugree ’ is. • Use of force to evict the
tenant. This job is taken up by organized gangs who charge heavy fees. Sometimes, even
the help of the local police is taken in this regard.

3. Poorly written Acts: The following observations from the Annexures clearly highlight the
fact that most of the states’ Rent Control Acts are poorly written and thus their implementation is
bound to be problematic.

 In many states tenants are not even entitled to get a receipt from the landlord on payment
of rent (refer to Annexure 6, column 3). The right to receipt on payment of rent is an
essential right of any tenant and also, the foundation of the tenants’ right to seek justice
in court of law.
 In several states, the landlord is entitled to make alterations or improvements to the
premises without the written consent of the tenant. These improvements, in turn, entitle
him to increase the standard rent (refer to Annexure 5, column 5). This means that the
landlord, despite the unwillingness of the tenant, can make structural alterations to the
premises and claim an increase in rent.
 A clear position on inheritance rights is essential for any legislation governing property
rights. But strangely, Karnataka is the only state in India, which has provisions for
inheritance of tenancy in its RCA.
 Too much in the acts is ambiguous and is left to the interpretation of the user. Phrases
like ‘basis of’ and ‘bona fide’ are used very often.
 Despite having adapted ‘second generation rent controls’, only a handful of the states
actually allow for periodic, unconditional increase in the standard rent. (Refer to
Annexure 5, column 5).
 Only the state of Maharashtra has provisions for mass letting10 in its Rent Control Act.
The rest of the states seem to assume that a tenanted premises is inhabited by only one
tenant or his immediate family. This assumption is definitely not true, especially in a
country like India.
 And in some states, the evictions clauses are so stringent that a tenant cannot be evicted
even if he causes substantial physical damage to the building. (Refer to Annexure 4,
column 5)
Rental Agreement
A rental agreement refers to a relationship between the landlord and the tenant.  It is legally
binding upon the parties. It may be brief, or it may have extra conditions or obligations.
However, any changes or additions to a rental agreement should be maintained in writing.  The
rental agreement is a ‘Legal Form’ which has to be completed, signed and dated by the tenant
and landlord. There are leases and rental forms for renting, leasing and managing residential
rental properties. Both the parties must have access to the document once it is signed.

5
An Indian term used to describe an interest free security deposit given to landlords which is refundable
at the expiry of the lease term to the outgoing tenant by the successive tenant
The landlord should get the agreement registered. The landlord must give the tenant a duplicate
copy of the rental agreement, failing which the tenant is not obligated to pay rent until the tenant
receives a copy of the rental agreement.
For a lease agreement, the terms of the lessee (tenant) and the lessor (landlord) when they enter
into a lease agreement would include terms like the term of lease, deposit amount and monthly
rentals. The lessor or the landlord should ensure the premises come back in the right shape in
repossession.

 There has been no damage to the tiling, plumbing, flooring or electrification and the
premises are in the proper condition.
 No major changes have been incorporated in the premises. If the lessee has made some
changes, which are not acceptable to the lessor, the latter may ask him to undo the
changes.
 In the case of leasing of furnished premises, the condition of the furnishings is in proper
condition.
 All the electricity and telephone charges have been taken care of till the specified date by
the lessee or tenant at the time of repossession.
 On satisfactory fulfilment of all these aspects, the lessor should offer the refund the
security deposit (if given) to the lessee offering vacant and peaceful possession of the
premises.
 In a Tenancy Agreement there is a transfer of interest and it establishes the non-eviction
of the tenant by the owner except on the grounds of eviction mentioned under the Rent
Act.
Under the Leave and License Agreement transfer of interest takes place on permission and the
same can be terminated as per the terms of the agreement. The possession can be demanded back
from the licensee. The label to the agreement could be Leave & License or Tenancy Agreement,
but it is the intention of the party that counts. Documentation of the commercial lease is also an
important rental law procedure.

Rights and Duties of Landlords

The law imposes a number of duties on the landlord and gives the tenant a number of
corresponding rights. These include (1) possession, (2) habitable condition, and (3)
noninterference with use.

 Possession
The landlord must give the tenant the right of possession of the property. This duty is
breached if, at the time the tenant is entitled to take possession, a third party has
paramount title to the property and the assertion of this title would deprive the tenant of
the use contemplated by the parties. Paramount title means any legal interest in the
premises that is not terminable at the will of the landlord or at the time the tenant is
entitled to take possession.

If the tenant has already taken possession and then discovers the paramount title, or if the
paramount title only then comes into existence, the landlord is not automatically in breach.
However, if the tenant thereafter is evicted from the premises and thus deprived of the property,
then the landlord is in breach. Suppose the landlord rents a house to a doctor for ten years,
knowing that the doctor intends to open a medical office in part of the home and knowing also
that the lot is restricted to residential uses only. The doctor moves in. The landlord is not yet in
default. The landlord will be in default if a neighbor obtains an injunction against maintaining
the office. But if the landlord did not know (and could not reasonably have known) that the
doctor intended to use his home for an office, then the landlord would not be in default under the
lease, since the property could have been put to normal—that is, residential—use without
jeopardizing the tenant’s right to possession.

 Warranty of Habitability
As applied to leases, the old common-law doctrine of caveat emptor said that once the
tenant has signed the lease, she must take the premises as she finds them. Since she could
inspect them before signing the lease, she should not complain later. Moreover, if hidden
defects come to light, they ought to be easy enough for the tenant herself to fix. Today this
rule no longer applies, at least to residential rentals. Unless the parties specifically agree
otherwise, the landlord is in breach of his lease if the conditions are unsuitable for
residential use when the tenant is due to move in. The landlord is held to an implied
warranty of habitability.

 Non-interference with Use

In addition to maintaining the premises in a physically suitable manner, the landlord has an
obligation to the tenant not to interfere with a permissible use of the premises. Suppose
Simone moves into a building with several apartments. One of the other tenants
consistently plays music late in the evening, causing Simone to lose sleep. She complains to
the landlord, who has a provision in the lease permitting him to terminate the lease of any
tenant who persists in disturbing other tenants. If the landlord does nothing after Simone
has notified him of the disturbance, he will be in breach. This right to be free of interference
with permissible uses is sometimes said to arise from the landlord’s implied covenant of
quiet enjoyment.

Tenant’s Remedies

When the landlord breaches one of the foregoing duties, the tenant has a choice of three basic
remedies: termination, damages, or rent adjustment.

In virtually all cases where the landlord breaches, the tenant may terminate the lease, thus ending
her obligation to continue to pay rent. To terminate, the tenant must (1) actually vacate the
premises during the time that she is entitled to terminate and (2) either comply with lease
provisions governing the method of terminating or else take reasonable steps to ensure that the
landlord knows she has terminated and why.

When the landlord physically deprives the tenant of possession, he has evicted the tenant;
wrongful eviction permits the tenant to terminate the lease. Even if the landlord’s conduct falls
short of actual eviction, it may interfere substantially enough with the tenant’s permissible use so
that they are tantamount to eviction. This is known as constructive eviction, and it covers a wide
variety of actions by both the landlord and those whose conduct is attributable to him, as
illustrated by Fidelity Mutual Life Insurance Co. v Kaminsky, (see Section 13.5.1 "Constructive
Eviction").

 Damages
Another traditional remedy is money damages, available whenever termination is an
appropriate remedy. Damages may be sought after termination or as an alternative to
termination. Suppose that after the landlord had refused Simone’s request to repair the
electrical system, Simone hired a contractor to do the job. The cost of the repair work
would be recoverable from the landlord. Other recoverable costs can include the expense of
relocating if the lease is terminated, moving costs, expenses connected with finding new
premises, and any increase in rent over the period of the terminated lease for comparable
new space. A business may recover the loss of anticipated business profits, but only if the
extent of the loss is established with reasonable certainty. In the case of most new
businesses, it would be almost impossible to prove loss of profits.

In all cases, the tenant’s recovery will be limited to damages that would have been incurred by a
tenant who took all reasonable steps to mitigate losses. That is, the tenant must take reasonable
steps to prevent losses attributable to the landlord’s breach, to find new space if terminating, to
move efficiently, and so on.

 Rent Remedies
Under an old common-law rule, the landlord’s obligation to provide the tenant with
habitable space and the tenant’s obligation to pay rent were independent covenants. If the
landlord breached, the tenant was still legally bound to pay the rent; her only remedies
were termination and suit for damages. But these are often difficult remedies for the
tenant. Termination means the aggravation of moving, assuming that new quarters can be
found, and a suit for damages is time consuming, uncertain, and expensive. The obvious
solution is to permit the tenant to withhold rent, or what we here call rent adjustment. The
modern rule, adopted in several states (but not yet in most), holds that the mutual
obligations of landlord and tenant are dependent. States following this approach have
developed three types of remedies: rent withholding, rent application, and rent abatement.

The simplest approach is for the tenant to withhold the rent until the landlord remedies the
defect. In some states, the tenant may keep the money. In other states, the rent must be paid each
month into an escrow account or to the court, and the money in the escrow account becomes
payable to the landlord when the default is cured.

Several state statutes permit the tenant to apply the rent money directly to remedy the defect or
otherwise satisfy the landlord’s performance. Thus Simone might have deducted from her rent
the reasonable cost of hiring an electrician to repair the electrical system.

In some states, the rent may be reduced or even eliminated if the landlord fails to cure specific
types of defects, such as violations of the housing code. The abatement will continue until the
default is eliminated or the lease is terminated.

Rights and Duties of Tenants

In addition to the duties of the tenant set forth in the lease itself, the common law imposes three
other obligations: (1) to pay the rent reserved (stated) in the lease, (2) to refrain from committing
waste (damage), and (3) not to use the premises for an illegal purpose.

 Duty to Pay Rent

What constitutes rent is not necessarily limited to the stated periodic payment usually
denominated “rent.” The tenant may also be responsible for such assessments as taxes and
utilities, payable to the landlord as rent. Simone’s lease calls for her to pay taxes of $500 per
year, payable in quarterly instalments. She pays the rent on the first of each month and the first
tax bill on January 1. On April 1, she pays the rent but defaults on the next tax bill. She has failed
to pay the rent reserved in the lease.
The landlord in the majority of states is not obligated to mitigate his losses should the tenant
abandon the property and fail thereafter to pay the rent. As a practical matter, this means that the
landlord need not try to rent out the property but instead can let it sit vacant and sue the
defaulting tenant for the balance of the rent as it becomes due. However, the tenant might notify
the landlord that she has abandoned the property or is about to abandon it and offer to surrender
it. If the landlord accepts the surrender, the lease then terminates. Unless the lease specifically
provides for it, a landlord who accepts the surrender will not be able to recover from the tenant
the difference between the amount of her rent obligation and the new tenant’s rent obligation.

Many leases require the tenant to make a security deposit—a payment of a specific sum of
money to secure the tenant’s performance of duties under the lease. If the tenant fails to pay the
rent or otherwise defaults, the landlord may use the money to make good the tenant’s
performance. Whatever portion of the money is not used to satisfy the tenant’s obligations must
be repaid to the tenant at the end of the lease. In the absence of an agreement to the contrary, the
landlord must pay interest on the security deposit when he returns the sum to the tenant at the
end of the lease.

 Alteration and Restoration of the Premises

In the absence of a specific agreement in the lease, the tenant is entitled to physically change the
premises in order to make the best possible permissible use of the property, but she may not
make structural alterations or damage (waste) the property. A residential tenant may add
telephone lines, put up pictures, and affix bookshelves to the walls, but she may not remove a
wall in order to enlarge a room.

The tenant must restore the property to its original condition when the lease ends, but this
requirement does not include normal wear and tear. Simone rents an apartment with newly
polished wooden floors. Because she likes the look of oak, she decides against covering the
floors with rugs. In a few months’ time, the floors lose their polish and become scuffed. Simone
is not obligated to refinish the floors, because the scuffing came from normal walking, which is
ordinary wear and tear.

 Use of the Property for an Illegal Purpose

It is a breach of the tenant’s obligation to use the property for an illegal purpose. A landlord who
found a tenant running a numbers racket, for example, or making and selling moonshine whisky
could rightfully evict her.

Landlord’s Remedies

In general, when the tenant breaches any of the three duties imposed by the common law, the
landlord may terminate the lease and seek damages. One common situation deserves special
mention: the holdover tenant. When a tenant improperly overstays her lease, she is said to be
a tenant at sufferance, meaning that she is liable to eviction. Some cultures, like the Japanese,
exhibit a considerable bias toward the tenant, making it exceedingly difficult to move out
holdover tenants who decide to stay. But in the United States, landlords may remove tenants
through summary (speedy) proceedings available in every state or, in some cases, through self-
help. Self-help is a statutory remedy for landlords or incoming tenants in some states and
involves the peaceful removal of a holdover tenant’s belongings. If a state has a statute providing
a summary procedure for removing a holdover tenant, neither the landlord nor the incoming
tenant may resort to self-help, unless the statute specifically allows it. A provision in the lease
permitting self-help in the absence of statutory authority is unenforceable. Self-help must be
peaceful, must not cause physical harm or even the expectation of harm to the tenant or anyone
on the premises with his permission, and must not result in unreasonable damage to the tenant’s
property. Any clause in the lease attempting to waive these conditions is void.

Self-help can be risky, because some summary proceeding statutes declare it to be a criminal act
and because it can subject the landlord to tort liability. Suppose that Simone improperly holds
over in her apartment. With a new tenant scheduled to arrive in two days, the landlord knocks on
her door the evening after her lease expires. When Simone opens the door, she sees the landlord
standing between two 450-pound Sumo wrestlers with menacing expressions. He demands that
she leave immediately. Fearing for her safety, she departs instantly. Since she had a reasonable
expectation of harm had she not complied with the landlord’s demand, Simone would be entitled
to recover damages in a tort suit against her landlord, although she would not be entitled to
regain possession of the apartment.

Besides summary judicial proceedings and self-help, the landlord has another possible remedy
against the holdover tenant: to impose another rental term. In order to extend the lease in this
manner, the landlord need simply notify the holdover tenant that she is being held to another
term, usually measured by the periodic nature of the rent payment. For example, if rent was paid
each month, then imposition of a new term results in a month-to-month tenancy. One year is the
maximum tenancy that the landlord can create by electing to hold the tenant to another term.

Conclusion

The rental laws in India need to be revised to protect the owner and his/her property from the
tenant.

 Special areas of focus should be on terminating old tenancies, removing constraints on

increase of rentals and empowering owners in the sense of being able to reclaim their
properties without any court proceedings.
 The market forces should be allowed to determine the rental amounts and the owner
must have full protection for his/her property. This will go a long way in providing
security to the landlord and also reduce the deposit amount required with the lease
agreements.
 If these laws are enacted and strictly enforced, there is every chance that more investors
will want to enter the real estate market to utilize the rental fees as income. This is
especially true for the commercial sector. The tax laws also need to be revised so that
 renting of properties becomes a financially viable option.  Amendments in the Rent Acts
of several states are a progressive move.

Right to privacy and peaceful enjoyment of the rented property is another right of the tenant. The
landlord cannot simply enter the property and leave at his own free will without the permission
of the tenant as the tenant is the legal possessor of the property and it is under his rights to
administer people in or out of the property.

Further, it is the duty of the landlord to act responsibly towards the tenant's demands of getting
certain repairs, etc. done to the property in question, provided the demand is reasonable. If the
landlord fails to do it and the tenant has to pay for the task instead, he can reimburse himself
from the fixed rent amount by showing appropriate bills for the transactions done.

Bibliography

http://www.indianground.com/rentals/rental-laws-in-india.aspx

https://www.ccs.in/internship_papers/2006/Rent%20Control%20Act%20-%20Satvik.pdf

https://housing.com/news/rent-control-act-safeguards-interests-tenants-landlords/

http://www.ijtr.nic.in/Article%20Chairman%20RCAct.pdf

https://blog.finology.in/Legal-news/Rights-and-Duties-of-Tenants