CHENNAI: Now you have got nearly eight months to register rental agreements with the Rent Authority after it was being set up across the State. Earlier, the government had given a 90 day deadline for registering it with Rent authority once the ordinance was passed on February 22. The ordinance was promulgated by Governor Banwarilal Purohit on May 22 where in the Section 4 of the Tamil Nadu Regulation of Rights and responsibilities of landlords and Tenants Act, 2017, in sub section (2) for the expression 90 days has been substituted with 210 days, according to Tamil Nadu government Gazette.
This was later extended to 365 days and now a bill has been passed to amend the Tamil Nadu Regulation of Rights and Responsibilities of Landlords and Tenants Act, 2017, to 575 days since the Act was passed. This means the deadline has now been extended to September 20, 2020.
A top housing department official said that the amendment was introduced in Act to extend the deadline so as to spread awareness on the new Rent Act and also due to poor response to registering the documents.
The new act was to help unlock the vacant houses, where in the owners were shy to rent it out, according to officials. It is learnt that nine per cent of houses in the country are kept locked as the previous rental act favoured the tenants.State government has set up Rent courts in 32 districts, according to a GO issued by Housing and Urban Development Department.