ISLAMABAD RENT RESTRICTION ORDINANCE, 2001
ISLAMABAD-RENT-RESTRICTION-ORDINANCE.
This ordinance was passed on 23rd January 2001
and according to its section 1 sub-section (3), it came into force at once, on
the day of acknowledgement of the president. The main purpose of passing of
this ordinance was to regulate the relations between the landlords and tenants
of rented premises in the Islamabad Capital Territory. According to section 1
sub-section(2) this ordinance is applicable on the urban areas of Islamabad and
is applied to such buildings and rented lands as the Federal Government may
specify.
DEFINITION CLAUSE
As usual, section 2 of this ordinance provides several definitions which are helpful in understanding the remaining 32 sections. There are some thirteen definitions provided in the definition clause of this ordinance. We will learn some important of them.
Commercial building: it means any building constructed and used solely for purpose of an office, business, and trade. Examples can be the Centaurs mall, a 2-room house used for manufacturing gas kits, hostel, and factories’ warehouses etc.
Controller: a person appointed by federal government to head the rent related issues of Islamabad. He is than assisted by an additional controller under this ordinance.
Fair rent: the rent of any building (whether commercial or no-commercial: domestic) determined by the controller.
Landlord: owner of the property, any authorized person to receive rent, a trustee, guardian, or receiver, or a lessee (tenant) who sublets the property.
Residential building: any building used for purpose of residence, but does not include an office, hostel, residential flats, hotels, etc.
Tenant: any person who is bound to pay rent
on account of occupation or possession of a building rented by him, on by
another on his behalf. Even after termination of the tenancy agreement, he will
still be considered a tenant. And if he is dead, the members of his family who
continue to be in possession of the rented building.
SOME IMPORTANT SECTIONS
There are total 32 sections in this ordinance which deal with various matters regarding the tenancy agreements and the disputes arose during the tenancy agreement or after the termination or expiration of tenancy agreement. This ordinance also provides of rights and obligations of both the tenant and the landlord. Here we will understand some sections of this ordinance and then we will proceed to the recent amendments made to this ordinance in order to address the setbacks arisen from application of this ordinance.
Section 5:
The rent agreement must be in writing. And if it is not compulsory registerable according to the law of the region, it will be attested by the controller by signing and affixing his seal. If the agreement is compulsory registerable then certified copy of such agreement, or the original deed duly attested by controller in case of unregistrable agreement will only be accepted as evidence of relation between the tenant and the landlord.
SECTION 8 AND 9
These two sections deal with the fixing the initial rent payment and increase in it.
Section 8 provides that initial rent be
fixed through agreement between tenant and the landlord and getting the
agreement registered with controller within one week from signing of the
agreement. Section 9 deals with increase in the rent amount in case of rent
agreement of less than three years. In such agreements no increase in rent is
allowed. But if on the request of the tenant and at expanse of landlord some
alteration, addition, or improvement is made out in the rented premises then
the rent amount may be increased subject to the subsection 2 and 3 of this
section. Under subsection 2, the fair rent for the reasons given above will not
be more than the fair rent of similar building within same location having
similar alterations or improvements and it shall not be chargeable until such
improvement is completed. Any dispute in this regard will be heard and decided
by the controller.
AMENDMENTS
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| AMENDMENTS |
to save time we will conclude our presentation
by discussing some amendments made to this ordinance. Summary of such
amendments is following.
All the agreements between landlord and tenant
will be presented before a rent controller, so they can keep a record. The
payments related to the tenancy agreement will be made through a cross
cheque. The rent of the commercial and residential building will increase by 10%
annually. A mediation council will be set up for conflict resolution.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE AMENDMENTS
This statute will be called Islamabad rent
restriction (Amendment) act, 2020 (Section 1) In the definition clause a new
definition was included i.e. (ga), “meditation council” whose definition was
provided in another newly installed section (section 16a).Section 5 was amended
with these provisions: no landlord will let out a premises on rent without a
tenancy agreement. Such agreement shall be presented before the controller
within thirty days. Registering the tenancy agreement will not release the
tenant and the landlord from their liability of registering the document under
any other law. In section 8 a new sub-clause was added which provides that all
payments between tenant and landlord will be made through cross cheque to be
deposited by the tenant in landlord’s mentioned bank account or through other
proper receipt.
AMENDMENTSIN SECTION 10 AND 16a
Rent amount of both residential and commercial
buildings to be increased by ten percent at end of every year (changed from
twenty five percent increase every three years). (Section 10)A new section,
section 16a, was added. It provided constitution of a meditation council which
was also mentioned after amendment in definition clause. The purpose of this
council is to deal with all the disputes arising between tenant and landlord
under this act. This council shall consist of President, Islamabad chamber of
commerce and industry or any other
member nominated by him (convener). Tenant or his representative, Landlord or his
representative or Any other person from the business community nominated by the
convener to assist him.
AMENDMENTS IN SECTION 21
Previously only a final decision of the
controller was appealable before the district judge and an interlocutory order
was not appealable under the original ordinance. But it was then amended and
the sub-section (2) was substituted by “an appeals hall lie from an
interlocutory order passed by the
controller.” Therefore, now a tenant does not need to wait for the final
decision of the controller. If he feels aggrieved by the intermediate decisions
of the controller, he can go for appeal before district judge against such
intermediate decisions.
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