The tenancy agreement checklist

A written agreement is the best protection for both landlord and tenant. In Punjab, Sindh and Islamabad the law expects one, and in Punjab a landlord who lets without a proper agreement pays a price later, in court. This guide gives a practical checklist, and then what each law requires.

The checklist

These are good practice. Where an item is a legal requirement, the law is named.

1. The parties. The full names, father’s or husband’s names, CNIC numbers, addresses and phone numbers of the landlord and the tenant, and of the property dealer if there is one. The police registration asks for the CNICs too.
2. The premises. The address, the portion or floor, a list of fixtures and furniture, and the electricity and gas meter reference numbers.
3. The term. The start and end dates, and how the agreement is renewed. A lease for more than a year, or from year to year, has to be registered (see “Registration” below).
4. The rent and its increase. The monthly rent, and the rate and timing of any increase. Punjab’s Act expects the “rate of enhancement” to be written in; in Islamabad, 10% a year applies unless you agree otherwise in writing; in a cantonment, the Cantonments Rent Restriction Act 1963 applies (see below). Our rent increase calculator works out the figures.
5. Payment. The due date and how rent is paid, with bank details if it is paid into a bank. In Islamabad, pay by crossed cheque or against a receipt; everywhere, keep written receipts.
6. Advance rent, the security deposit and any pagri, and when and how the deposit is returned.
7. Use. Residential or commercial. Using premises for another purpose is a ground for eviction in Punjab.
8. Subletting, only with the landlord’s written consent.
9. Utilities. Who pays which bill; meter readings and photos at move-in and move-out; and final bills paid before the deposit is returned. Our utilities guide explains why this matters to the owner.
10. Repairs and maintenance: who does what.
11. Notice to end the tenancy, and the condition the premises are to be handed back in.
12. The adults who will live there, with their CNICs. Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s police registration asks for the male members over 14 and two references.
13. Signing. Signatures of both sides and two witnesses, on e-stamp paper.
14. Police registration. The reference or receipt number once the tenant is registered; see the police registration guide.

Punjab

The Punjab Rented Premises Act 2009 says a landlord shall not let premises except under a written tenancy agreement (section 5).

• Presenting it to the Rent Registrar. The landlord presents the agreement to the Rent Registrar, who records its particulars, seals it, keeps a copy and returns the original. A registered agreement proves the relationship of landlord and tenant. The Lahore High Court describes the Registrar’s role as administrative (case-law bulletin, December 2023). We found no deadline or fee for presenting it in the Act, and no current list of who holds the post in each district, so ask at your district courts.
• What it contains. Section 6 lists, “as far as possible”: the particulars of the landlord and tenant; a description of the premises; the period of the tenancy; the rent, the rate of enhancement, the due date and the mode of payment; bank details where rent is paid through a bank; the purpose of use; and any advance rent, security and pagri. The Lahore High Court has held that an amount not recorded in the agreement cannot be treated as pagri (case-law bulletin, December 2023).
• If you do not. Under section 9, the Rent Tribunal will not hear a case about a tenancy that does not conform to the Act unless a fine is deposited: 10% of the annual value of the rent from a landlord, and 5% from a tenant.
• Eviction. Section 15’s grounds include the end of the tenancy period, rent not paid within thirty days after the time the Act allows for payment, breach of the agreement, use for another purpose and subletting without consent. “Personal need” is not among the grounds we found.

Sindh

Under section 5 of the Sindh Rented Premises Ordinance 1979, an agreement letting premises must be in writing. If it does not have to be registered, it must be attested by the Controller, a Civil Judge or a First Class Magistrate. The registered deed, or the attested original, is accepted as proof of the relationship.

• If no date is agreed, rent is due by the tenth of the following month, and the landlord acknowledges each payment in writing as far as practicable (section 10).
• An increase both sides agreed is binding, although either side can still apply to the Rent Controller to fix a fair rent (Supreme Court, C.P. 492-K/2023). Where the Rent Controller has fixed a fair rent, it cannot be raised for three years, and then by no more than 10% a year (section 9).

Islamabad

Under the Islamabad Rent Restriction Ordinance 2001:

• The tenancy agreement must be in writing, and the landlord presents it to the Controller, who records and seals it. The texts we read give thirty days from signing for this, but we could only read the wording in the 2019 bill, not cleanly in the Act as passed; present it promptly.
• Since the Amendment Act of 2021, rent increases automatically by 10% at the end of every year of the tenancy, unless the two sides agree in writing on a different increase or none.
• Payments connected with the tenancy are to be made by crossed cheque or against a proper receipt. Disputes go first to a Mediation Council, and then to the Controller if mediation fails.

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan

In the urban areas of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, the West Pakistan Urban Rent Restriction Ordinance 1959 still applies; we found no newer provincial rent Act. Both provinces’ tenant security Acts require an attested copy of the rent agreement for the police, so a written agreement is needed there too. We could not confirm from an official text which rent law the Balochistan courts apply today.

Cantonment areas

Premises in a cantonment, including the cantonments of Lahore, Karachi, Rawalpindi, Peshawar and Quetta, follow the Cantonments Rent Restriction Act 1963, not the provincial law. Under section 7(5) the landlord cannot raise the rent unilaterally within three years; increases written into the agreement count as rent (Supreme Court judgments; an unofficial copy of the Act). We could not read an official text of the Act, so check with the cantonment board or a lawyer.

Registration, stamping and the 11-month agreement

• Registration. Under section 17 of the Registration Act 1908, a lease from year to year, for more than a year, or reserving a yearly rent must be registered, and the courts have held that an unregistered document that needed registration does not create rights in the property (Allah Diwaya v. Ghulam Fatima, PLD 2008 SC 73, as cited by the Sindh High Court in C.P. S-352/2018). That is the usual reason agreements are written for 11 months, although no official source we found describes the practice itself.
• Stamp duty. Agreements are written on e-stamp paper, bought through the provincial e-stamping systems, such as Punjab’s. We could not confirm the current duty on a rent agreement in any province, so we do not state an amount.

How Maalik-e-Makaan will help

Version 1.0 will keep the agreement with each tenancy: the date it was signed, the e-stamp number and amount, the Punjab Rent Registrar status, registration number and date, the permitted use and whether subletting is allowed. It will remind you when an agreement is about to end and when the yearly increase is due.