A rent agreement between a tenant and a landlord is a very important legal document. This agreement protects both parties in case of any controversy. Hence it is important that before you lend or occupy a home on rent, you should clear all terms with house owner or occupant. All the terms and conditions must be documented in advance. This document is called rent agreement or rent deed.

In particular you need to make sure that you don't ignore following conditions/ points when you rent or hire house on rent:

house rent agreement
Printed House Rent Agreement are available in Market
1. Full name of all the occupants must be mentioned on the agreement. It must be signed too by all involved. In particular when bachelors are involved in rental house accommodation, it must be clearly mentioned that if one of the bachelor leave house, others would pay for his absence. It must also have occupants permanent address (with ID proof), and all men occupying house must declare that they don't have any criminal record.

2. Duration of accommodation must be clear between house owner and tenants. It should be mentioned in rental document that each party would furnish a written notice, at least one month in advance, before a house on rent could be vacated.

3. What will be the rent, when it should be paid/due, and the procedure of paying rent must be clearly stated in agreement. This will help in avoiding problems between both parties.

4. How much a tenant should pay to society for maintenance (if need be), how much repairing expenses he/she will need to bear, and what expenses will be handled by owner, must be clearly mentioned in 'house on rent agreement'.

5. Renewal terms and conditions i.e. by how much or when owner can renew rent, must also be made a part of document. One must not forget to include in document if a notice is required to be given before renewing rent in future. This is very important point. Most property owners neglect it and it often leads to confrontation with other party.

6. Rental agreement must compulsory include an 'exit clause'.  House lender, in this clause, must mention that when a tenant leaves the occupied house, the premises must be returned "as it is" i.e. in same condition when it was given on day of rental accommodation. Tenant would pay for repairing and other damages to property. It is actually a good practice if owners demand for a 'damage deposit' as a security in advance, so that they can deduct expenses in case of damage from it. This damage deposit must be 'refundable' in case no damage to property is done.

7. Rent deed must have a full and permanent address of owner of the house or the property broker which provided the house. This will help tenant contact the lender in case of any problem.

8. Agreement must also have a PAN card details of owner. Otherwise, as per new rules, tenant won't be able to get the House Rent Allowance or HRA.

9. Agreement should have all details related to property like, whether it is fully furnished or partially. Also all the facilities provided to tenant, features, and other conditions must be clearly stated.

10. "A tenant cannot keep a sub tenant with him in premises," must be clearly mentioned. Only those men whose names are on agreement are allowed to occupy and live in accommodation provided on rent.

Copies of this house agreement or deed, whatever you call, should be kept with both parties.

In addition to above we also recommend house lenders to do a police verification of tenants before lending their real estate. This is a very common practice in metro cities and now is even followed in cities and towns of India.

If both house lender and tenant take care of above points while making house rent agreement. We are sure there would be no problem between both parties. In market the printed 'house rent deed' or rent agreement is also available.

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