Blog Article

Gujarat is the state consistently at the top of the list of maximum contributors for the GDP, it’s where several states look up to when trying to woo Foreign Direct Investment. A state now mostly known for the ever increasing investments it is lately attracting, thanks to the corporate friendly environment and also the continually booming economy, there is little doubt that it’s a magnet for the increasing number of job seekers gathering to the hub of Ahmedabad, Surat and the likes. If you are one to contemplate migrating to one of these cities, to grab onto one of the wealth of opportunities available and are looking for a rental stay, here is all you need to know. What’s more, you can also customize your own rental agreement and modify the clauses to suit one’s needs.

Steps To Prepare Your Rental Agreement

1. Customize your Agreement from our portal with all the necessary clauses in place.
2. Procure the required Stamp paper from SHCIL (Stock Holding Corporation Of India Limited), Sub-Registrar Office or even some Banks to print the final reviewed draft.
3. Have the Owner and Tenant attest the Stamp paper in the presence of two witnesses.
4. Although optional Registering the document at the Sub-Registrar Office is recommended.

For one of the most efficient and cost saving ways of preparing your rental agreement with all the clauses in place with an option to customize, you will find it rather easier to use our portal to prepare a draft in minutes. In addition, all the drafts of agreements, legal deeds and business documents we have on our site are legally valid, and are ready-to-use.

Is Notarization A Necessity?

A Notarised document is one that “an authentic signature(s) of the person(s) authorised or required to sign it, and the signature of a Notary Public witnessing the signing of the document, accompanied by an impression of his or her official notary seal.” To put it in simple words notarization ensures that the parties signature is an authentic one and not a forged one.

Furthermore, ‘Notary’ means a person appointed as such under The Notary Act, 1952, who is authorised to Notarise the document. Though not all agreements are widely notarised, it is mostly recommended for long term and commercial agreements for when muddled with a legal dispute, a notarised document can be a safe net to fall back into. You can know more about Notarization and everything it entails from our website.

Various Types Of Rental Agreements

1. 11 Month Rental Agreement: Most Rental Agreements are made for a duration of 11 months for which the need for registration is not absolute. At the end of the term, which is mostly for residential purposes one is expected to renew the agreement.
2. Commercial Lease: They are signed for Business purposes, either between two businesses or a landlord renting a place to a business. Here, the terms followed are different and the duration is almost always in years. In agreements such as these, apart from registration, notarization too is recommended.
3. Long Term Lease: For tenants looking to stay for longer durations for residential purposes, lease is usually a seal-deal, for it is hassle free for both the owner and the tenant, in terms of collecting rent. The Agreements are formed for years and only prior to few months from the expiration, one is supposed to renew the agreement. Long Term Leases don’t normally exceed 20 years.

Clauses One Ought To Remember While Drafting An Agreement

1. Terms of Payment: The duration up to which an agreement is valid must be agreed upon by both the owner and the tenant.
2. Lease/Rent Term: Apart from deciding on the term of the lease or rent, one must agree on the notice to be issued if the tenant wishes to vacate the residence early. While most agreements decide on issuing the notice one month prior to vacating the building, it can be settled in the Rental Agreement.
3. Security Deposit: Also known as Rental Deposit, it usually constitutes the value of first three months’ rent which is to be paid to the Owner for in case of delay in payment or absence of the same for services like Garbage disposal, Parking, and repainting, it can be deducted from the deposit. The rest of the deposit is returned to the Tenant prior to vacating the rented/leased property or as agreed upon by the parties.
4. Utilities/Services/Maintenance Charges: The Maintenances charges are explicitly mentioned in the agreement, be it for the services of parking, lawns, play area for kids, pools, garbage disposal, drains and emergency repairs.
5. Occupants: If the agreement specifies it explicitly, the tenant will be liable if the number of guests exceed the limit stipulated in the Rental Agreement. (Such clauses are introduced in the occasion of water shortage as one doesn’t want the number of guests to be blamed)
6. Pets: Pet rules differ with every landlord and more often than not, apartments are not pet friendly and hence it is to be agreed upon in an agreement.
7. Right to Entry and Inspection: The right of the owner to enter the Tenant’s place is to be agreed up in the agreement either for collecting rent or just for the sake of inspection.
8. Keys and Addendums: The number of duplicates of keys to be created and other issues concerning keys are to be agreed up in the agreement.

Acquiring Stamp Papers

Once you prepare the draft with us, the next step would be printing the rent agreement draft on Stamp paper. While e-Stamping isn’t widely prevalent all over Gujarat with the exception of Ahmedabad, the Stamp papers can be acquired from Sub-Registrar Offices, SHCIL (Stock Holding Corporation of India Limited) and some banks like Bank Of Baroda, Punjab National Bank, Canara bank, Yes Bank, etc. For purchasing any Stamp paper, a duty/tax is to be paid to the Government, which is calculated in terms of percentage of annual rent to be paid to the Owner. In the instance of failure to pay the Stamp Duty, both the owner and the tenant will have to face the repercussions when faced with a legal dispute where an extra sum is to be paid as penalty.

Registration Of The Rental Agreement

One should remember that a rental agreement printed on a Stamp paper is not enforceable if not registered at a Sub-Registrar Office. Therefore, one is expected to register the same at a Sub Registrar office in order to make it legally enforceable in the event of a dispute.

Once the Registration of a rental agreement is done, both the Owner and the tenant can ensure complete transparency which is in the best of interests of both the Landlord and the Tenant.

Agreements can be registered after the tenant moves in but nonetheless, are not to be delayed.

How Do You Make An Online Rental Agreement?

1. Visit our Online Rental Agreement page by clicking the ‘Create Rental Agreement’ button below.
2. Fill out the details in the draft agreement, i.e., the name and address of the owner and the tenant, the kind of property to be given on rent or lease, etc.
3. Further review the details to avoid any typos and then, either download the soft copy of the rental agreement or have us deliver you the draft printed on a Stamp paper.
4. If you choose the former option, procure the Stamp paper from a registrar office and have the downloaded agreement printed on the same.
5. If latter, pay the aforementioned price which also includes the delivery charges. We also provide a quick delivery option.
6. Owner and the Tenant are to attest the Rental Agreement along with the two witnesses.
7. Finally, register your Rental Agreement at the nearest Sub-Registrar Office, if required.

Moving-in may be the easier part when both the parties, the landlord and the tenant have to negotiate the terms of the agreement. Also more often than not, before any of the clauses are agreed upon there might naturally arise disagreements and discomfort at certain clauses. In the middle of all the confusion, we offer you a lot more simpler platform to discuss and introduce clauses in real time, by using our form of Rental Agreement.