CHENNAI: The state government amended the Tamil Nadu Regulation of Rights and Responsibilities of Landlords and Tenants Act 2017, making it mandatory for all tenancy agreements to be registered with the Rent Authority within 90 days of the amended Act coming into force.The amendment, which was introduced in the Assembly on Thursday, was passed to amend the 2017 legislation which was based on the Model Tenancy Act. Since the Act was not implemented as the state had some reservations about some sections, the Union government sent another Model Tenancy Act in 2017, following which the state decided to amend the Tamil Nadu Regulation of Rights and Responsibilities of Landlords and Tenants.
This would mean that landlords, who have been shielding their rent agreements against levy of stamp duty and registration fee, will now have to pay the cess as the Act mandates the registration of lease agreements with the Rent Authority.Under existing legal provision of the Indian Evidence Act, Indian Registration Act and Stamp Act, rental agreements beyond a period of 12 months are required to be registered for them to be admissible as evidence in legal proceedings.
Most of the landlords either enter into agreements for a period of 11 months or not enter into any written agreements at all to avoid registering the agreements and paying due stamp duty and registering fee.
The Amendment also makes provisions wherein old tenants will also have to register within 90 days once the amended Act comes into force. The amendment also brings sub-tenancy within the ambit of tenancy agreement.
The amendment brings in changes to Section 6 of the Act wherein discriminatory provisions against women family members (daughters and daughters-in-law) of the tenant have been removed. In the event of the death of a tenant, the right of tenancy of residential and non-residential premises shall devolve for the remaining period of tenancy on his successors-in-interest.This amendment comes in the wake of the State highlighting the shortfalls in the Model Tenancy Act when the Prime Minister’s Office reviewed the Act earlier this year.
Sources indicated that the state has opposed the contradiction between Section 4 and Section 8 of the Model Tenancy Act which stipulates registration of pre-existing tenancy. Under section 4, the Act mandates that the lease agreement executed prior to commencement of the Act be informed to the Rent Authority while Section 8 (b) stipulates that within 12 months from the commencement of the Act, the parties shall execute a fresh agreement.
Factfile
Transferable development rights first emerged as a policy in the US in 1960s. It was used to preserve certain parts of city which had historic buildings
In India, TDR was first implemented in Mumbai in 1991 to acquire land for public amenities like gardens and roads
Between 1991 and 2004, more than 21,00000 square metre of land was surrendered through TDR in Mumbai for road development and slum redevelopment
In Bengaluru, TDR was initiated in 2005 to help government with large-scale infrastructure projects
Transferrable development rights were issued in the Second Master Plan and there were few takers in Chennai. It is learnt it is due to lack of mechanism of trade and price discovery as Chennai is not an active TDR market
TNSCB boost
The move to amend the Act comes as the Tamil Nadu Slum Clearance Board (TNSCB) is wooing real estate developers to market 20,520 square metre of special transferrable development rights to build homes