House Rent Rules in India — Explained

To counter the challenges faced by landlords and tenants, the Government has introduced the Model Tenancy Act (MTA),2021 and home rent rules 2025. These aims to balance the rights of all types of tenant & landlords and create an accountable and transparent ecosystem for renting of premises in disciplined and efficient manner.

The Indian Government has approved the framework of rental act which is known as Model Tenancy Act 2021 introduced by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs on 02nd June 2021. The model tenancy act is aimed at regulating the housing sector in India and balancing the rights and responsibilities of landlords and tenants.

However the rental laws are subject to state and the model tenancy act 2021 was adopted in Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh and Assam as of now. Recently Karnataka and Maharashtra pronounced the rental rules in their respective states based on Model Tenancy Act 2021.

The Model Tenancy Act adopted by states serves as a framework to states and the state still has rights to adopt or modify the rules subject to conditions in state. This framework helps the states in moving from informal to formal sector and brings more clarity and transparency.

Below are some of the Home Rent Rules 2025.

1. Mandatory Registration of Rental Agreements: Till now, the rental agreements are informal ie., oral or written without registration. Going on, the rental agreement needs to be stamped up and registered online with sub-register within 60 days of signing.

As per Model Tenancy Act 2021, no person shall take or let out a property except by a formal rental agreement



2. Security Deposit: The security deposit payable by the tenant to the landlord should not exceed
   
   
   1. 2 months rent in case of residential properties
   2. 6 months rent in case of non-residential properties

The security deposit needs to be refunded to the tenant on the date of taking possession of vacant premises.



3. Revision of Rent: The revision of rent should be in accordance with the terms of the tenancy agreement. The rent revision can be done once in a year with 90 days notice period for the tenant.


4. Payment of rent within time: The tenant should pay the rent and other charges within specified time as agreed in tenancy agreement.


5. Proof of Payment of Rent: Upon receipt of rent, the landlord should provide the duly signed receipt for the rent received by him. If the rent is paid through electronic mode, the bank acknowledgement itself serves as conclusive proof of such payment


6. Vacating the premises: If the tenant wants to vacate the house, he needs to follow the following:
   
   
   1. If it is covered by rental agreement: The tenant needs to send a written notice to landlord for the period specified in rental agreement. Example: 3 months before vacating the house.
   2. If it is not covered by rental agreement: The tenant needs to give the notice of vacating the house at least 1 month before vacating the house


7. Eviction of Tenant: The landlord cannot evict the tenant under any circumstances during the period of tenancy as per rental agreement unless both landlord and tenant agrees in writing.

However, the landlord can apply for rent court for immediate vacation of tenant on 1 or more following grounds

• The tenant does not agree to pay the rent
• The tenant has not paid rent or any other charges for 2 consecutive months
• The tenant is misusing the premises even after receipt of notice from landlord
• The landlord can evict the tenant (even during the agreement period) if major repair, reconstruction, rebuilding, additions/alterations, or demolition is genuinely required and it is impossible to do the work while the tenant is living there.


8. Enhancement of rent in case of refusal to vacate by tenant: If the tenant fails to vacate the premises as per rental agreement, the tenant is required to pay twice the monthly rent for first 2 months