VIJAYAWADA: Tenants are a harassed lot in the Capital region, particularly Vijayawada. Ever since Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu laid the foundation for the capital on Oct 21 last year, and set deadlines for government employees to shift to the new Secretariat, house owners in the city have been eyeing a windfall.
To cash in on the sudden spurt in demand for housing, they have hiked rents overnight at several places, without prior intimation to the tenants - both individuals and commercial establishments, putting the latter in a quandary. Some have been forcing the tenants to either cough up more rent or pack up their bags.
Consequently, tenant evictions in both residential and commercial spaces have been on the rise here for the last 12 months. Some of these disputes are landing in the Rent Controller Courts, with property owners seeking to evict the tenants and the latter trying to get injunctions against the same. The problem is arising in the absence of implementation of the Andhra Pradesh Buildings (Lease, Rent and Eviction) Control Act, 2005. Most individual tenants are unaware of the Act and hence, do not go to court. Those who run commercial establishments, however, are taking legal recourse. “If we can’t pay the hiked rents, the owners are harassing us and filing eviction suits in the court. I have no idea who to approach and what to do,” M Raghunatha Rao, said a jeweller on Rajagopalachari Street, Governorpet, complained. He had done the interiors for the shop.
Compounding the issue is lack of awareness among the tenants. Most of them enter into oral agreements. Very few have written rental agreements with property owners. Ch Kavitha, a resident of Bharathi Nagar, said she had an oral agreement with her house owner while taking on rent a 2-BHK flat. About Rs 50,000 was invested by her husband on renovation of the flat. “At that time, the house owner told us to bear the renovation cost and promised to let us stay in the house for 24 months. Now with the Capital effect, he is forcing us to pay additional rent or asking us to vacate, she said. Kavitha filed a case in the court.
The Rent Control Act says houses with rents of over Rs 3,500 per month come under the Transfer of Property Act and tenants should enter into an agreement with landlords every 12 months. Advocate Sunkara Rajendra Prasad said the Act must be enforced to protect tenants.