Overview
- The Centre, through May 6 notifications under the Punjab Reorganisation Act, applied the Assam Tenancy Act to Chandigarh to replace the 1949 rent law with immediate effect.
- The law requires written rent agreements, prompt notice to a Rent Authority, and a digital portal for registration within three months of the authority’s appointment.
- Security deposits face caps of two months’ rent for homes and six months for commercial spaces, and overstaying tenants must pay double rent for two months then four times until they vacate.
- Disputes will move to a three-tier system of Rent Authority, Rent Court and Rent Tribunal with set ranks and deadlines, while cases already filed under the 1949 law continue under the old regime.
- Four other laws now in force update stamp duty valuation, record rights in habitation areas, regulate travel agents to curb human smuggling, and create a risk-based fire safety regime that officials say should ease compliance.