Rent Agreement in Delhi: Rules, Stamp Duty, Registration and Clauses

A Delhi rent agreement is the instrument that creates the tenancy. It names the landlord and the tenant, describes the flat, fixes the rent and the deposit, and sets the date the term ends. A WhatsApp “yes”, a society move-in form, or a notary stamp on a one-page printout does not do that work. If the duty is short, or the term quietly crosses one year without registration, the document you are relying on for the deposit, for house-rent allowance, or for a possession case can fail when you need it.

This guide is for a residential letting of a flat or house in the National Capital Territory of Delhi. Commercial premises, a paying-guest arrangement, agricultural land and a sale are different instruments. If you are buying rather than letting, follow the property transaction checklist and the sale transaction workflow. Stamp duty and registration fees are revised by notification. Use the figures below to budget and to draft, then confirm the live amount on the e-stamp system before anyone pays. A flat in Gurugram or the rest of Haryana follows the Haryana rent agreement guide. A flat in Noida, Ghaziabad or the rest of Uttar Pradesh follows the Uttar Pradesh rent agreement guide.

Which law actually governs a Delhi tenancy

Four statutes do the work. They answer different questions, and mixing them up is how people end up with a notarised paper that a court will not treat as a lease.

• The Transfer of Property Act, 1882 says how a lease is made. Section 107 requires a registered instrument, signed by both the lessor and the lessee, where the lease is from year to year, for a term of more than one year, or reserves a yearly rent. Any other lease can be made by a registered instrument, or by an oral agreement accompanied by delivery of possession. In practice, always put a Delhi letting in a signed, stamped writing, even when registration is not compulsory. An oral arrangement is very hard to prove when the deposit is in dispute.
• The Registration Act, 1908 decides when that writing must be registered. Section 17(1)(d) makes registration compulsory for a lease of immovable property from year to year, for any term exceeding one year, or reserving a yearly rent. Section 49 keeps an unregistered document of that kind from being used as evidence of the lease itself.
• The Indian Stamp Act, 1899, as applicable to Delhi, charges duty on the instrument. Stamping and registration are separate. A lease that does not need registration still needs the correct stamp. An under-stamped instrument can be impounded, and it is not admitted in evidence until the deficit and a penalty are paid.
• The Delhi Rent Control Act, 1958 restricts eviction and standard rent, but only for the premises it still covers. An amendment exempts premises whose monthly rent exceeds ₹3,500. Most flats let in the city today sit above that line, so the contract and the Transfer of Property Act govern, not the Rent Controller. A tenancy at or below ₹3,500 a month in urban Delhi can still be a controlled tenancy. Do not assume a lock-in clause or a “vacate on notice” clause will be enough in that case. Eviction then goes through the Rent Controller on the grounds the Act lists.

The Model Tenancy Act, 2021 is a central model for states to adopt. It does not, by itself, replace the Delhi Rent Control Act for tenancies in the capital. Before you draft on the assumption that a new rent law is in force, check whether a later Delhi notification has brought one in.

Calling the document a “leave and licence” does not avoid these rules if the occupant is given exclusive possession of the flat. Courts look at that substance. A true licence, such as a desk in a shared office with no exclusive possession, is a different arrangement. A family moving into a 2BHK is a lease, whatever the heading says.

Why most Delhi agreements are for 11 months

Eleven months is not a Delhi custom invented by brokers. It sits just under the one-year line in Section 17 of the Registration Act and Section 107 of the Transfer of Property Act. A term of less than one year, which does not reserve a yearly rent, is not compulsorily registrable. The agreement is still a lease. It still has to be stamped on the rent actually payable, signed by the landlord and the tenant, and followed by possession.

Three drafting mistakes pull an “11-month” paper back into compulsory registration:

• The term is written as 11 months and, in the same document, a second 11 months is already fixed, so the agreed period exceeds one year.
• Rent is reserved as a yearly sum (“yearly rent of ₹3,60,000”) even though the calendar term is short. A lease “reserving a yearly rent” is registrable on its own.
• The renewal is automatic, with no fresh agreement and no fresh stamp, so the occupation the parties actually agreed is longer than a year.

A renewal is a new instrument. When the 11 months end, sign a fresh stamped agreement, or a registered deed if the new term is a year or more. A one-line “extended by mutual consent” on the old paper is not a renewal. The rent agreement workflow keeps that renewal on the same record as the original, with the dates visible before the term runs out.

What to fix before the draft is printed

Collect this set before anyone discusses stamp value. The e-stamp certificate has to match the agreement. A wrong party name or a wrong rent on the certificate is expensive to correct.

The people who must sign

• Every owner on the title. One co-owner cannot let the whole flat unless the others have given a specific authority, or the agreement is limited to that owner’s share.
• Every adult tenant who will be in possession. If spouses are both moving in, name both.
• Where a company, HUF or partnership is the landlord or the tenant, the authorised signatory and the document that authorises them (board resolution, authority letter or partnership deed).
• If an owner abroad signs through an attorney, a specific power of attorney that covers letting this property, properly executed, attested and stamped. A general family power of attorney is a weak basis for a long letting.

The property, written the way the records describe it

• Full municipal address: flat or house number, floor, tower, street, locality and PIN code.
• Built-up or super area only if you also state what was actually measured. Do not invent a carpet figure.
• Parking slot number, whether it is included, and whether it is an independent right or only a society allotment.
• Furnishing status, with a room-wise inventory annexed and signed. Photographs dated on the handover day save the deposit later.
• Whether the use is residential only. A residential flat used as a shop or a coaching centre is a different bargain, often barred by the society and by the sanctioned use.

Proof the landlord can let it

The tenant should see, before paying a large deposit, the latest title document in the landlord’s name, a recent property-tax or electricity bill, and the landlord’s PAN and Aadhaar. If the person collecting rent is a relative “looking after the flat”, ask whose name is on the deed. The same habit applies when you buy: the sale checklist starts with title, and a letting should not be looser about who is entitled to hand over the keys.

Stamp duty on a Delhi rent agreement

Duty is charged under Article 35 of Schedule I-A of the Indian Stamp Act as applicable to Delhi. That article covers a lease, an under-lease, a sub-lease, and an agreement to let or sub-let. For the ordinary case — rent is fixed and no premium is paid — the duty follows the length of the term.

“Same as a bond” means Article 15. In Delhi that rate is 2% (0.5% where the bond is issued by a local authority, which a private rent agreement is not). “Same as a conveyance” means the conveyance rate levied under the Act at the time you stamp. The Department of Revenue publishes the current conveyance rates for a sale or gift — in most of Delhi, 6% where the transferee is male, 4% where the transferee is female, and 5% for a joint male-and-female transfer, with lower rates in the New Delhi Municipal Council area and the Delhi Cantonment. Because a longer lease borrows that conveyance rate, do not budget an old flat percentage. Generate the challan for the exact term and let the system apply the rate then in force.

How to compute the figure

Average annual rent is the average of the rent payable in each year of the term, not the first year’s rent if the agreement escalates. Include a charge the tenant agrees to pay which the law can recover from the landlord, such as the owner’s property tax. The explanation to Article 35 treats that charge as part of the rent. Maintenance the tenant pays straight to the residents’ association, under an arrangement that does not shift the owner’s tax, is usually kept out of the rent figure — but only if the clause says so clearly.

A refundable security deposit is not automatically added to that base. A premium or a non-refundable advance is different: Article 35 charges conveyance duty on a fine, premium or advance, and adds it to the duty on rent where both are present. The Delhi High Court has treated a deposit that is refundable at the end of the lease, and is only security for performance, as outside that premium head. Duty can still be charged on the deposit itself as a security bond under Article 57 read with Section 5. Where the amount secured exceeds ₹1,000, that article provides a duty of ₹100. Tell the e-stamp counter about the deposit so the certificate covers both heads. Do not assume it is free, and do not assume the whole deposit is added to the rent and charged at conveyance rates.

Two worked examples

These are illustrations of the bond-rate slabs, which cover almost every house letting. They are not a challan.

• 11 months at ₹25,000 a month, no escalation. Whole rent payable is ₹25,000 × 11 = ₹2,75,000. Stamp duty at 2% is ₹5,500. Registration is not compulsory. If the parties still register, the registration fee is extra.
• Three years at ₹25,000 a month in year one, then 10% each year. Year one is ₹3,00,000, year two is ₹3,30,000, year three is ₹3,63,000. Average annual rent is ₹3,31,000. Stamp duty at 2% is ₹6,620. Registration is compulsory because the term exceeds one year.

The ₹100 stamp paper problem

A large number of Delhi agreements are still printed on stamp paper of ₹50 or ₹100 and then notarised. That amount is not the duty Article 35 charges on an ordinary rent. On the first example above, ₹100 covers less than a fiftieth of the duty. Notarisation does not cure a short stamp. Under the Stamp Act an insufficiently stamped instrument is not admitted in evidence, and the Collector can impound it and recover the deficit with a penalty that can go up to ten times the shortfall. Employers processing house-rent allowance, and banks asking for a letting proof, increasingly look at whether the e-stamp value matches the rent.

Delhi collects this duty by e-stamp, through the Stock Holding Corporation system used by the Revenue Department. For a stamp value up to ₹500 the Department also allows purchase from an authorised vendor; above that, payment is through the listed banks and the e-stamp modes (net banking, NEFT, RTGS and the other modes the portal shows). The certificate must state the parties, the property, the consideration and the article. Buy it in the name of the correct first party. In the absence of a clause to the contrary, Section 29 of the Stamp Act puts the cost of the stamp on the lessee — the tenant. Parties often split it. Write the choice into the agreement so it is not argued on registration day.

When registration is mandatory

Register the lease at the sub-registrar if any one of these is true:

• The term is one year or longer.
• The lease runs from year to year.
• The lease reserves a yearly rent.

An 11-month agreement that avoids those three points is valid without registration, once it is properly stamped, signed by both sides and acted on by handing over possession. Registration is still available if both sides want the stronger record. It is not a legal requirement for that short form.

If you skip registration where Section 17 requires it, the document does not create the multi-year lease you wrote down. Courts commonly treat the person in possession, if possession was delivered and rent is paid, as a month-to-month tenant. The rent and the deposit terms are much harder to enforce from the unregistered deed. A month-to-month tenancy can be ended by a notice under Section 106 of the Transfer of Property Act. In the absence of a contract on the point, that notice is fifteen days, expiring with the end of a month of the tenancy. The written notice period in a registered deed replaces that default. An unregistered long lease does not.

Registration fee and where you go

The Department of Revenue states the registration fee for a lease deed of immovable property as ₹1,000 per instrument plus ₹100 pasting fee, so ₹1,100. That is a fixed fee for the lease, not the 1% charge used on a sale deed. Sale duty and lease duty are different heads. Do not apply the male or female sale percentage to an 11-month rent agreement.

Presentation in Delhi is through the sub-registrar for the area where the property sits. Appointments are booked on the Delhi Online Registration Information System (DORIS), run by the Revenue Department. Both the landlord and the tenant admit execution. Carry originals, not photographs of originals.

A lease that must be registered has to be executed and presented in the manner the Registration Act and the sub-registrar require, including personal appearance and biometrics. An Aadhaar e-sign on a PDF does not replace that visit. For an 11-month agreement that is stamped and does not have to be registered, e-stamping and Aadhaar e-signing are a practical way to get a signed original without a sub-registrar slot. The rent agreement workflow is built for that sequence: draft, review, e-stamp, e-sign, and a later renewal.

Notary, e-stamp and registration are three different acts

A notary public authenticates that the people in front of them signed. The notary does not assess stamp duty and does not enter the deed in the government’s register of documents. Useful as an extra identification of signatures on a short agreement. Useless as a substitute for duty, and useless as a substitute for registration when the term exceeds one year.

• E-stamp pays the duty and makes the instrument admissible.
• Signatures of both sides, with possession, create the short lease.
• Registration records a lease that the Registration Act says must be recorded, and gives the best public proof of a longer term.
• Notarisation supports the fact of signing. It is optional for an 11-month Delhi agreement.

Clauses the agreement should contain

Delhi has no single government form that every private letting must copy. The clauses below are what make the document usable — for the deposit, for a default, for tax, and for the day the tenant leaves. Strike out a clause you do not mean. A clause you do not understand should be rewritten, not left in because a template had it.

Parties, title and the premises

• Full names, parentage or spouse name, age, addresses, phone, email, Aadhaar and PAN of every landlord and every tenant.
• A short statement of how the landlord holds the property, and that they are entitled to let it.
• A description that identifies the flat, the parking and the fittings. Annex a plan or the builder inventory if you have it.
• The names of occupants who are not tenants, and a cap on how many people will live there.

Term, rent and the way rent is paid

• Start date and end date, in calendar form. “Eleven months from the date of possession” is weaker than two actual dates, because possession dates slip.
• Monthly rent in figures and words, the due date, and the grace period if you want one.
• Mode of payment: transfer into a named account. Avoid cash. A rent receipt, or the bank narration, should carry the month it relates to.
• Whether rent includes society maintenance, club, parking, water and GST. If it does not, say who pays each item and to whom.
• Escalation, as a percentage or a fixed rupee increase, and the date it applies. If there is no increase, say “the rent shall not increase during this term”.
• Rent is reserved monthly, not as a yearly rent, where you intend to stay under the registration threshold.

Security deposit

• Amount, the date it is paid, and that it is refundable.
• It is not rent, and it does not earn interest, unless you have actually agreed interest.
• The only deductions: unpaid rent, unpaid utility bills the tenant was obliged to pay, and the cost of damage beyond ordinary wear. “As assessed by the landlord” with no list is how deposits disappear.
• Refund timing. A clear version is: within a stated number of days after the tenant vacates, returns the keys, and clears bills, against a written handover.
• The deposit is not a substitute for the notice period. Do not draft “the deposit is the notice” unless both sides mean that and the stamp treatment has been checked.

Lock-in, notice and how the term ends

There is no statutory minimum lock-in for a Delhi tenancy that is outside the Rent Control Act. If you want one, write the length and the consequence of leaving early. A consequence that simply confiscates the entire deposit, regardless of loss, is the clause most likely to be attacked as a penalty. Prefer a notice period, rent for the unexpired lock-in or until a new tenant starts, whichever you honestly intend, and a duty on the landlord to re-let reasonably.

• Notice period after the lock-in, for both sides. One month is common. Two months is common on larger rents. It must be written.
• How notice is served: email to a stated address, and a physical copy. “WhatsApp only” is a poor sole method when a court asks for proof.
• The landlord’s grounds to end early: non-payment beyond the grace period, unlawful use, sub-letting without consent, material damage, or a use that the society or the law prohibits.
• Handover: vacant possession, keys, access cards, and the flat in the condition recorded in the inventory, with ordinary wear excepted.
• The tenant cannot be locked out, have the electricity disconnected, or have belongings removed by the landlord as a form of eviction. For a premises outside rent control, possession is recovered through a civil process after a valid notice. For a controlled premises, through the Rent Controller. Write a dispute clause. Do not write a self-help clause.

Use, sub-letting, repairs and entry

• Residential use only, unless the sanctioned use and the society rules allow the stated commercial use.
• No assignment or sub-letting, and no paying-guest or short-stay letting, without prior written consent.
• No structural change, and no change to the balcony, plumbing or electrical load, without written consent.
• Repairs: the landlord keeps the structure, waterproofing and permanent fittings in habitable condition. The tenant handles day-to-day items and damage they cause. A rupee threshold (“repairs under ₹2,000”) prevents small arguments.
• The landlord may enter at reasonable hours with prior notice, except in an emergency.
• Pets, if they are allowed, and any society rule that already binds the resident.
• No unlawful activity, and no use that invalidates the building insurance.

Society, utilities and police verification

• Who pays electricity, piped gas, water and internet, and that dues up to the handover date stay with the previous occupant.
• Move-in charges, maintenance deposit to the association, and parking sticker charges — named, and stated as whose cost.
• An undertaking to complete police verification and to share the acknowledgement with the association. More on this below.
• The tenant will follow the house rules already in force. Attach them, or identify them, so “you broke the rules” has a text.

Tax, default and boilerplate that still matters

• Who deducts tax at source, at what threshold, and the landlord’s PAN. A missing PAN becomes the tenant’s problem at the time of the deduction.
• Rent receipts will be issued, or the transfer reference will be accepted, for the tenant’s records.
• Indemnity for acts of the tenant and their guests, without wiping out the landlord’s liability for a defect in title or a structural failure.
• Governing law: the laws of India, and courts at Delhi.
• Stamp duty and registration fee: who bears them.
• The annexures (inventory, house rules, ID copies) are part of the agreement.

Customers can start from a structured draft, and brokers or builders can adapt a template for the building, inside the rent agreement path. A template is a starting point. The rent, the deposit and the term of this flat still have to be the ones you agreed.

Police verification and the residents’ association

Police verification is not what makes the lease valid. Stamp, signatures and, where required, registration do that. In Delhi it is still a practical requirement. The Delhi Police tenant-verification process exists so that the local police station has the tenant’s identity and previous address. Most residents’ welfare associations and managing committees insist on it before they issue a move-in or a gate pass. Landlords should insist on it too. If a later investigation asks who was living in the flat, the acknowledgement is the record.

Do this alongside the agreement, not weeks after the keys are handed over. The tenant submits identity and address proof, photographs and the particulars the form asks for. The landlord’s copy of the agreement and proof of ownership are often required by the association even when the police form does not insist on them. Keep the receipt. A clause that says verification “may be done” is weaker than a clause that says possession is conditional on filing it.

Tax points that belong in the same conversation

These sit outside the stamp office, and they are the reason a tidy agreement matters to the finance team.

• House rent allowance. The tenant claims HRA against rent actually paid, supported by the agreement and proof of payment. If rent during the year exceeds ₹1,00,000, the landlord’s name and PAN have to be furnished with the tenant’s declaration. A landlord who refuses to share a PAN should be treated as a problem before the deposit moves, not in January.
• TDS by an individual or HUF. Where the tenant is an individual or an HUF who is not required to have accounts audited, and the rent of land or building is more than ₹50,000 a month, Section 194-IB requires a deduction. The rate was reduced to 2% from 1 October 2024. Confirm the rate in force for the month you deduct, deposit it on the prescribed form, and give the landlord the certificate. The agreement should record the landlord’s PAN for this.
• TDS by a business. Companies, firms and persons covered by Section 194-I deduct tax on rent they pay, generally at 10% for land and building, once the year’s payments cross the threshold in force for that financial year. That threshold has been revised by later Finance Acts. The tenant’s accountant should confirm it. It is not the same section, and not the same threshold, as 194-IB.
• GST. Rent of a residential dwelling for use as a residence is generally outside GST when the tenant is not registered. Renting a residential dwelling to a GST-registered tenant is treated differently and can fall under reverse charge. Rent of a commercial premises can be taxable, commonly at 18%, once the landlord’s liability is triggered. Write whether GST is included in the rent figure only after someone who files the return has confirmed it.

A practical sequence for Delhi

1. Inspect the flat, the title and the dues. Agree rent, deposit, term, escalation, parking and who pays maintenance.
2. Draft the agreement with the clauses above. Keep the term and the rent wording consistent with whether you will register.
3. Compute stamp duty on the correct base. For an 11-month letting that is 2% of the total rent payable, not a flat ₹100. Add the security-bond head if the e-stamp form requires it.
4. Generate the e-stamp in the correct names and with the correct property description.
5. Sign. On a registrable lease, book DORIS, appear with witnesses, and pay the ₹1,100 registration fee. On an 11-month lease, sign and e-sign against the e-stamp, and notarise only if you want that extra authentication.
6. File police verification and the society move-in. Photograph the inventory. Transfer the deposit and the first rent by bank, with a narration.
7. Hand over keys only after the stamp, the signatures and the verification filing are done.
8. Diary the end date. Start the renewal early enough to stamp a fresh agreement before the old term lapses.

Customers usually run this once, for the flat they are moving into. Brokers run it for several landlords at once, which is where a shared checklist beats a folder of PDFs. Builders who lease stock, or who help buyers finding a tenant at possession, need the same clauses applied the same way across flats. In each case the government fee is still paid to the stamp and registration system. PropTrak is the record of the draft, the stamp, the signature and the renewal, not a replacement for the sub-registrar.

Renewal, and what people get wrong

A renewal is not an extension scribbled on the last page. It is a new agreement for a new term, at the new rent, on a new stamp of the correct value. If the renewed term is a year or more, register it. If you prefer to keep registering optional, the renewed term has to stay under one year and must not reserve a yearly rent.

Rolling over “on the same terms” with no paper leaves you as a month-to-month tenant once the original term ends, if possession and rent continue. That may suit the landlord who wants flexibility. It does not suit a tenant who wants a fixed further period, or a landlord who wants a lock-in. Put the new dates in a stamped document.

Other failures that show up after the keys have moved:

• Only one co-owner signed, and the other disputes the letting.
• The e-stamp names a different property, or an old rent.
• The deposit clause has no deduction list and no refund date.
• Maintenance is “as applicable”, so nobody knows whether this year’s increase is the tenant’s bill.
• The tenant paid a cash deposit and has a receipt the landlord did not sign.
• Police verification was left for “after settlement”.
• The agreement says 11 months and also says the same document governs the next 11 months.

Questions people ask before they sign

Is an 11-month rent agreement valid in Delhi?

Yes, if it is for a term of less than one year, does not reserve a yearly rent, is stamped at the correct duty, and is signed by the landlord and the tenant. Registration is not compulsory for that document. A stamp of ₹100 on a normal city rent is not the correct duty.

Do we have to visit the sub-registrar?

Yes, if the term is one year or more, the lease is year to year, or it reserves a yearly rent. The registration fee for a lease deed is ₹1,000 plus ₹100 pasting fee. An 11-month agreement that stays inside the rules above does not require that visit.

Who pays the stamp duty?

The tenant, unless the agreement says otherwise. Registration fee can be shared the same way. Write it down.

Does the Delhi Rent Control Act stop the landlord from asking us to leave?

Only if the premises are still covered by that Act. Premises let at a monthly rent above ₹3,500 are exempt. Below that line, eviction is controlled and goes through the Rent Controller. Above it, the contract and the Transfer of Property Act apply, and a lock-out is still not a lawful way to take the flat back.

Can we use the same paper for a third year?

No. A fresh term needs a fresh stamped agreement. If you want one registered deed for three years, draft it as a three-year lease, pay 2% on the average annual rent, and register it at the start.

If you want the draft, the e-stamp and the renewal handled as one trail, start from the rent agreement workflow, or talk to PropTrak about a letting. Fee bands for the workflow sit on the pricing page. Related reading is collected under rentals and renewals and stamp duty and registration.

This is a practical guide to a private residential letting in Delhi. It is not legal, tax or registration advice. Stamp rates, conveyance rates, TDS thresholds and portal steps change. Have the duty confirmed on the e-stamp system, and have a local advocate read the draft, before you pay the deposit or book a sub-registrar appointment.