News: Housing ministry to soon seek cabinet nod on model tenancy law-23/06/2020
Updated On: June 23, 2020
Housing ministry to soon seek cabinet nod on model tenancy law
Mishra also said online building permissions have already become functional in over 2,000 cities across 14 states and would be implemented across all 4,400 cities by March next year.
NEW DELHI: The housing and urban affairs ministry will soon approach the Cabinet for approval of the model tenancy law to give a fillip to the rental housing segment, its Secretary Durga Shanker Mishra said on Tuesday. Addressing a webinar organised by CII and property consultant Savills, he said the government will soon come out with detailed guidelines of the Affordable Rental Housing Complexes (ARHC) for urban poor and migrants.
Mishra also said online building permissions have already become functional in over 2,000 cities across 14 states and would be implemented across all 4,400 cities by March next year.
The secretary said the resurgence of real estate was necessary and would happen soon as the sector presents huge growth opportunities because of rapid urbanisation.
Mishra highlighted that the demand and supply of affordable housing have increased, driven by tax sops and interest subsidy provided by the central government.
Citing the Census 2011 report that showed vacant 1.1 crore homes in the country, he said there are big business opportunities in the rental housing.
Mishra said the ministry has finalised the Model Tenancy Law and will soon be "placed before the Cabinet" for approval.
The secretary hoped that all states would adopt this model legislation, which would go a long way in making the rental housing segment transparent and accountable.
The model law seeks to balance the rights of both landlords and tenants, he said.
The ministry had in July 2019 floated the draft model tenancy law, which proposed that landowners will have to give a notice in writing three months before revising rent. It advocated appointing a district collector as rent authority and heavy penalty on tenants for overstaying.
On the ARHC policy for urban poor and migrants, Mishra said the ministry will soon come out with detailed guidelines of this scheme that was announced by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman as part of the Rs 20-lakh crore economic package to deal with the COVID-19 crisis.
The secretary said the ministry would propose sound business models and allow extra floor area ratio to developers under this scheme. "It will be a win-win situation for everybody."
Savills India CEO Anurag Mathur said the office, warehousing and online retail segments are the least impacted and will recover fast.
Luxury residential and hospitality have been affected badly, he added.
The housing and urban affairs ministry will launch a scheme to promote ARHC for migrant labour and urban poor to provide ease of living, access to dignified and planned housing close to their workplace in industrial sector as well as in non-formal urban economy.
The target groups for this initiative could be migrants, urban poor in industrial sector, service industry, manufacturing sector, institutions, and associations, among others.
The government will launch the scheme under PMAY(U) to provide ease of living at an affordable rent by using two models -- using existing housing stock as ARHCs; and incentivising private/ public agencies for construction of ARHCs.
