Maharashtra government to amend Rent Control Act

It wants to minimise disputes, which are affecting redevelopment of dilapidated buildings

The state government will amend the Maharashtra Rent Control Act, 1999, which regulates rental housing in Mumbai. The reason behind amending the Act is to reduce the number of disputes between tenants and landlords and minimise the dominance of the latter.

“Because of disputes between tenants and landlords there are hundreds of dilapidated buildings in the city whose redevelopment is stuck. The state is carrying out a survey with the help of the Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority’s (Mhada) Mumbai Building Repairs & Reconstruction Board (MBRRB) board. The survey will target buildings that are already dilapidated or could be declared dilapidated in the next two or three years. Also, the role of landlords needs to minimised, as it is a well-known fact that landlords practice exploitative tactics on their tenants. Once the survey is completed and the amendment is in place, we plan to give the tenants of dilapidated structures permission for self-redeveloping these structures. The survey will also include cessed buildings in the city,” said state housing minister Prakash Mehta.

Cessed buildings are those structures whose occupants pay a repair cess tax to the housing board. The Maharashtra Rent Control Act, 1999, besides determining fair rents and returns to landlords and conditions or eviction, also legalises the practice of the erstwhile ‘pagdi system’. Under this system a tenant can pay a premium to the outgoing tenant and landlord for the transfer of tenancy rights.

A report by the NGO Praja, earlier in October 2015, had said that the Rent Control Act must be revamped, as the city has witnessed a significant decline in rental housing over the years while housing for ownership flourished.

Also, every year Mhada, in collaboration with Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), carries out a pre-monsoon survey, during which it examines all its 16,000-old buildings in South Mumbai and comes out with a list of the most dangerous structures among them. In 2015, it came out with a list of 14 most dangerous buildings in South Mumbai.

“The government aims to complete the process in the next four years and our aim is to not have a single dilapidated building in the city within the next four years. We may not need a repair and reconstruction board in future if the project is successful,” added Mr Mehta.