The agreement between a landlord and a tenant for a home. Almost every one in India runs eleven months, and there is a specific reason for that number.
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The legal document setting out the terms on which a home is let, and binding both the landlord and the tenant to them.
A lease deed for a residential property, commonly called a rental agreement, is a legal document laying out the prescribed terms and conditions under which the property is leased, to be followed by both the landlord and the tenant.
It is what either side relies on in a dispute. It is usually signed on payment of the deposit, and two copies are executed, with each party retaining one of the originals.
Almost every residential agreement in India runs for eleven months, and that is not a convention without a reason: a lease of twelve months or more must be registered. The eleven-month deed keeps the arrangement below that threshold, and it has to be genuinely re-executed at the end rather than quietly allowed to roll on.
Sign it before the tenant moves in. A deed executed a month into a tenancy is a document about a period that has already passed.
Damage, unpaid rent, unpaid utilities: say which, and say when it is returned and within how long. Almost every tenancy dispute in India is about a deposit.
Split it between structural repairs and day-to-day ones, and say who pays for the society charges and the utilities. "Reasonable wear and tear" needs an example beside it.
How much notice the tenant gives to leave, and the landlord gives to end it. They do not have to be the same, but both have to be stated.
An inventory or photographs annexed to the deed. It is the only thing that settles an argument about damage eleven months later.
The two deeds look the same and are not. The term, the escalation, the fit-out and the registration all change once the property is let for a business.
| Attribute | Residential | Commercial |
|---|---|---|
| The bargain | ||
| Living inThe deed usually says the property is let for residential use only, which is what stops a tenant running a business out of it. | A named businessThe permitted use is written narrowly and tied to the tenant’s actual trade. Write it too loosely and the landlord has no say in what opens there; too narrowly and an ordinary change of business becomes a breach. | |
| Eleven monthsThe common Indian arrangement, renewed by a fresh deed. Eleven months keeps the lease under the twelve-month threshold at which registration becomes compulsory. | Three to nine yearsA business fitting out a premises needs to know it can stay long enough to earn the fit-out back, so commercial terms are long and almost always registered. | |
| At renewalRenegotiated when the next eleven-month deed is drawn up. | Written inA long lease sets the escalation in the deed, commonly a fixed percentage every few years, so neither side is renegotiating rent mid-term. | |
| By local customVaries widely between cities, from a month or two of rent to ten. The deed should say what it is held against and when it comes back. | Months of rentUsually stated as a number of months, and larger, because the landlord is carrying the risk of a longer term and of a fit-out to make good. | |
| What goes wrong | ||
| The landlordThe property is handed over ready to live in, and the tenant is normally forbidden from making structural changes. | The tenant, usuallyWhich makes the deed say who owns the fittings at the end, whether the tenant has to restore the premises, and who bears the cost if they do. | |
| Usually avoidedA lease of twelve months or more must be registered. The eleven-month deed is the standard way around it, and it has to be genuinely re-executed rather than quietly rolled on. | Usually requiredA term of a year or more is compulsorily registrable, and an unregistered long lease is not admissible as evidence of its own terms, which is exactly when a tenant needs it. | |
| Set by the stateRates and the way they are calculated differ from state to state, and are usually a function of the rent, the deposit and the term. Check the rate for the state the property is in. | Set by the stateGenerally higher than for a residential letting, and higher again as the term lengthens. It is worked out on the same three inputs. | |
| Next step | Get started | Know more |
Swipe the table sideways, Residential stays in view. Open any attribute to read the detail behind both answers.
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Because a lease of twelve months or more must be registered, and registration brings cost and formality with it. Eleven months keeps the arrangement below the threshold.
The agreement has to be genuinely re-executed at the end of each term rather than allowed to continue informally.
It is set by the state, and is generally worked out from the rent, the deposit and the term.
It is one of the things we confirm for your state as part of the drafting. A single national figure would be wrong in most states, and a deed stamped short is one a court may refuse to receive in evidence.
No. Compulsory registration applies at twelve months and above. Some states require or encourage other steps for shorter tenancies, such as police intimation or online registration of the tenancy, and that varies.
Only if the deed provides for it. Residential agreements usually leave the increase to the next eleven-month term rather than building in an escalation.
The deed is the starting point: it is what establishes the term, the notice given and the tenant’s obligation to vacate.
The next step is a notice to vacate, which is a separate document and is linked below.
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Before the tenant moves in, with the deposit and the repairs settled.
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