A rent settlement is a felony record, additionally referred to as agreement among the landlord (proprietor of the belongings) and tenant for a hard and fast duration of time, that includes the pre-mentioned norms and situations beneath  which the tenant has the brief ownership of the belongings. 

This settlement or record needs to be observed with the aid of using each landlord and tenant. Moreover, the tenure of the agreement or settlement may be renewed if the proprietor of the belongings desires to. 

The phrases and situations of the agreement or settlement may be modified in keeping with the knowledge among the tenant and the landlord.

In India, there are two types of rental contracts, the first of which is a 12-month leasing arrangement. The state government has enacted Rent Control Laws that govern this. 

The other option is to enter into a lease and licencing arrangement for up to 11 months that is not subject to the Rent Control Laws.

According to the draft Model Tenancy Act of the union government (all states must base their draft rental legal guidelines in this Act), the tenant should sign a hire settlement whilst moving into a rental association with a landlord.  The hire settlement should consist of the phrases and situations that will be binding on each of the parties.

Procedure for drafting a Rent Agreement

• Draft Contract in the manner mentioned above in the blog
• Print out the contract on paper with a token value i.e. Stamp paper.
• The landlord and tenant should sign the rental contract in the presence of two witnesses after giving a reading to the contract which mentions the monthly payment to be made by the party to the contract to another as rent for the usage of property.
• Register the contract at the sub-registrar’s office by paying the appropriate registration fees.

Rent Agreement Format

Contents a rental settlement must include:- 

• Names of the party concerned in the contract i.e. the owner of the property and the tenant who’s willing to pay for usage of the property.
• Detailed Description of the land that is supposed to be used as a source of income by the owner. 
• Amount of hire and due dates for payment, grace period to be given if the tenant isn’t able to pay the rent on a particular date of the month that would’ve been decided above in the contract.
• Mode of hire payment. 
• Methods to terminate the settlement/contract previous to the expiration date of the contract in case of any particular clause which could be drinking and playing loud music as per the demand of the owner.
• Amount of security deposit that the owner is willing to secure which could be used in case of any conflict or misuse of property
• Utilities supplied through the owner like electricity and water supply and if the owner charges for such utilities, the price per unit should be written on the contract.
• Facilities withinside the premises which the tenant is entitled to apply which includes swimming pool, protection structures etc. 
• Rules which include animal regulations, noise regulations and the penalty for violation like if the landlord denies presence of animals in the apartment but still you manage to hide one, then if found what will be the charges/punishment the owner will be taking against the tenant.
• Identification of parking space that’s legally protected, if provided.

Key Terms of the Rent Agreement

1. This is not a Fixed term agreement like Lease and so the rent defines that the tenant is agreed upon payment of a base sum per month, due and payable monthly on the set date of the month during the validation of this contract.
2. Form of payment – who’ll be paying the rent, thru which mode will it be paid like will it be cash or NEFT or Demand Draft in the name of the owner.
3. Due Date or the last date after which the owner have the right to restrict the access of the property or whatever violation terms have been clarified in contract beforehand.
4. Serving charges, if by any individual be it owner or tenant, the other is dishonored and disregarded in front of the society,  the other person hold a position to amend the same in view of paying for the same or by any other way.
5. Security Deposits – Tenants pay a sum of at least one month rent in advance that can be used by owner in case of any damage executed by Tenant to the property and the remaining amount should be given back whenever the tenant leaves the apartment i.e. ends the contract. 

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