Rental Agreement in Tamilnadu Marthandam | Thuckalay | Nagercoil

A rental agreement is define as the confidential document which proves the legal relationship of a landlord and a tenant. This document normally defines some agreements, duties and responsibilities of each of the parties who are related to that property. It will act as evidence when there is a situation of conflicts between parties comes.

• A rental agreement should contain the date of rental period and the names of parties who are living in that building.
• Should specify the period of date in which the agreement is valid.
• Specifying the duties and responsibilities of all the tenants is a strong point.
• It should contain the recital of advance amount paid and monthly rental amount to be paid by the tenant.
• Keep the rental document more detailed it will reduces the liabilities of both the parties.

When a rental agreement is made for a period beyond 11 months in tenure, it is mandatory to register the agreement as per the Registration Act of India. And the registration formalities with the local authorities is a lengthy process. So, to avoid these lengthy legal formalities, the Landlords insist upon making the agreement for 11 month rather than making it for an year.

A year agreement is required to be registered to make it executable under the Registration Act.

“In a recent 2014 judgment, it was declared by the Karnataka High Court that 11-month agreements can no longer be produced as an evidence in the courts as any transaction affecting the property. So, if a dispute arises regarding a rental property and that particular dispute is governed by a 11-month agreement, then the agreement cannot be used as an evidence in the court for all purposes.”

Case Law: Abdul Rasheed v. Srinivas:

Justice HG Ramesh in this case probed a question “Whether a lease deed, where the term of lease stated therein does not exceed one year, requires to be registered under the Registration Act, 1908.”

In an order that debunks the myth regarding the validity of the 11-month agreement, the court held, “In law, the lease deeds need to be registered and therefore, such unregistered lease deeds cannot be received as an evidence of an transaction affecting the property”.

Section 107 of the Transfer of Property Act says that “A lease of immovable property from year to year, or for any term exceeding one year or reserving a yearly rent, can be made only by a registered instrument.” However, in this particular case the High Court order gave importance to the following paragraph of the Section 107 which says, “All other leases of immovable property may be made either by a registered instrument or by oral agreement accompanied by delivery of possession.”

Section 49 of the Act also says that unless a document requiring registration is not registered, then it cannot “be received as an evidence of any transaction affecting such property.”

Held: The court held that if a document is something that governs the rental agreement only for a period of 1 year, but it is a written document and not just an oral agreement, then that particular document needs to be registered in the sub-registrar’s office after paying the stamp duty on it. Therefore, they become inadmissible in court if not registered under Section 49.

In this particular case, it was also held by the court, even if the unregistered agreement cannot be used as evidence in the court of law it can still be used as a corroborative (or supporting) evidence to the existence of any prior agreement. BY this it means that such an unregistered document on its own cannot be admitted in the court but it can still be valid and can be recognized as a supporting evidence if not the main.

This, of course, is a legal distinction which lies under the judge’s discretion as to its claims of validity. Even Section 17 (d) of the Registration Act states about a similar provision which mentions that a lease or a yearly rent cannot be valid unless it is a registered instrument.

The 11-month agreement is currently subject to a lot of scrutiny. However, to avoid any legal hassles it is better to opt for a complete 1 year rental agreement for residential purposes rather than a 11-month rental agreement.

The Act, modeled from the Centre’s Tenancy Act, will be aimed at maintaining a balance between the rights and responsibilities of both the owner and the tenant. The Act will replace the state’s the Tamil Nadu Buildings (Lease and Rent Control) Act, 1960, which has been known to favour tenants.

To ensure the process of registering the rent agreement becomes easier for both the parties, the government has also launched a portal, www.tenancy.tn.gov.in. The portal will act as a point of registration for both the parties. Here both the parties will be able to create a registration number. With this number, the rent agreement could be registered with the designated Rent Authority, which would constituted in every district in the state. These authorities will be headed by a deputy collector rank officer that will also help resolve disputes between tenants and owners.

To ensure that the grievances of the tenants and landlords are heard, each district will also have a rent court and tribunal, which will be set up as a part of the new Act.

• Under the new Act, new as well as existing tenants and landlords will have to register the rent agreement with the rent authority within 90 days.
• All tenancy agreement have to be registered with the Rent Authority of the respective district irrespective of the terms of the tenancy.
• Sub-lease is treated as an agreement for tenancy and is required to be independently registered with under sec.4 of the said Act.
• The registration required under this Act is independent of the registration of the tenancy agreement with the jurisdictional Sub-Registrar Office under the Registration Act.
• The application for registration can be done either by the Landlord or tenant or property manager.
• The applicant has to duly fill in the details including the corresponding address and contact number of himself and other party.
• The application for registration can be done through online or at common service centers.
• Upon scrutiny of the application, the Rent Authority will notify the applicant for presenting the tenancy agreement with supporting documents for verification.
• On verification of the tenancy agreement, the Rent Authority shall issue the certificate for registration of tenancy agreement.

Registration Boss expert further states that, it’s better to ensure the rental agreement be registered for easily pursuing resolution of disputes that may arose in future. If the landlord does not accept the rent and other charges within the said period then, the tenant shall deposit such rent and charges with the Rent Authority. The rental agreement can either be registered through Sub-Registrar office or the portal of Rental Authority functions under the Tamil Nadu Housing and Urban Development Department. So it’s better to prepare and write a rental agreement in a prudent manner in order to avoid future contradiction and conflicts. For any assistance required to prepare and register the same, you may contact to our Registration Boss…