Finance Minister K.M. Mani on Monday said that the State Government would make registration of rent agreement mandatory under the Rent Control Act to be introduced soon.

Addressing a conference of various organisations representing trade, building owners, and tenants here, Mani said the draft legislation would be introduced as soon as it gets the green signal of the Cabinet. He said there would be provisions in the new Act making rent agreement between the owner and the tenant mandatory, besides providing for 20 per cent increase in lease rent once in three years.

He said all buildings that did not have a lease agreement would be given one year’s time to get one on the basis of the consensus between the owner and the tenant. An arbitration committee would be set up to settle disputes relating to this.

If this mechanism fails, the parties can take legal recourse. Details of all registered lease agreements should be intimated to the nearest police station.

Mani claimed that it was for the first time that a Bill was being contemplated on the basis of all-round consensus. The representatives of All-Kerala Building Owners Association, Vyapari Vyavasayi Ekopana Samithi, Rental Entrepreneurs National Trust, Rental Building Owners Association, Confederation of Real Estate Developers Associations of India (Credai) participated in the conference. Housing Secretary T.O. Suraj and other senior officials attended the meet.

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