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Tenants paying paltry rents may have to shell out more 

Mahendra Kumar Singh | TNN 

New Delhi: An overhaul of the legislative set-up could soon result in thousands of tenants,who now pay monthly rents of Rs 50 or 100,shell out rentals that reflect the market reality.
The housing ministry has prepared the Model Residential Tenancy Act,2011,which is intended to replace the archaic rent control legislation that capped rentals,resulting in landlords getting a pittance for properties in prime localities in metros.The draft legislation,which is yet to be adopted by the states,has proposed that once the law is in place,in case of tenancies entered after notification,the rental will be based on an agreement between the landlord and the tenant.
For existing ones,including properties where rent was finalised several years ago,there will be a freeze on revision for 24 months.In the 22nd month,the landlord will be able to seek a revision.And,in the absence of an agreement,the landlord will have the option to terminate the tenancy.Though rent control is a state subject,the Centre is seeking adoption of the model law by mandating that only states that enact this law would be eligible for funding under the flagship Rajiv Awas Yojana,which has a budgetary allocation of over Rs 800 crore in 2011-12 and comes with other benefits such as interest relief.
The Centre is of the opinion that the current legal system has discouraged landlords from reinvesting in their properties as rentals have been kept artificially low.The ministry has estimated a housing shortage of around 25 million in the country and by allowing for increase in rentals,the government is encouraging property owners to let out their properties and ease the deficient supply of dwellings.

Lending to housing sector to be linked to disaster preparedness 


Wiser from the Japanese experience,the government is set to mandate installation of dosimeters,which measure radiation,in 35 large cities,apart from stipulating that home loans and infrastructure lending be available only to projects compliant with national disaster preparedness norms.These are expected to be finalized at a meeting of the National Disaster Management Authority on Wednesday.P 10