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

A rent agreement for a flat in Gurugram, Faridabad, Panchkula or any other town in the state is a Haryana instrument. The stamp schedule, the registration portal and the rent-control statute are the state’s, even when the tenant works in Delhi and the building looks the same from the road. Using a Delhi notarised format, or a ₹100 stamp because that is what a vendor offered, leaves the deposit and the term on a document that may not do the job you think it does.

This guide is for a residential letting of a flat, builder floor or house in Haryana. A commercial lease, a paying-guest bed, agricultural land and a sale are different instruments. If the property is in the National Capital Territory, use the Delhi rent agreement guide. If it is in Noida, Ghaziabad, Lucknow or anywhere else in Uttar Pradesh, use the Uttar Pradesh rent agreement guide. If you are buying rather than letting, follow the property transaction checklist and the sale transaction workflow. Rates and portal steps change. Budget from the figures below, then confirm the live challan on e-GRAS before anyone pays.

Which law governs a Haryana tenancy

Four statutes answer four different questions. Gurugram does not get a special code of its own.

• 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 any term exceeding one year, or reserves a yearly rent. A shorter lease can be made by a registered instrument or by an oral agreement accompanied by delivery of possession. Put every Haryana letting in a signed, stamped writing. An oral “the flat is yours from the first” is a poor record when the deposit is disputed.
• The Registration Act, 1908 decides which of those writings 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. The Revenue and Disaster Management Department registers these deeds through HARIS. The appointment and deed filing run on the state’s Jamabandi and e-registration systems, not on Delhi’s DORIS.
• The Indian Stamp Act, 1899, as applicable to Haryana through Schedule I-A, charges duty on the instrument. Stamping and registration are separate. An 11-month lease that need not be registered still needs the correct stamp. Duty on a lease or rent deed is payable by the lessee unless the agreement says otherwise. That is also the department’s stated position: on a lease or rent deed, the lessee pays.
• The Haryana Urban (Control of Rent and Eviction) Act, 1973 restricts eviction and fair rent, but only for the premises it covers. It extends to urban areas of Haryana and does not apply to cantonment areas. Section 1(3) keeps the Act off a building, for ten years from the date of its completion, where construction was completed on or after the Act began. That clock runs from completion of the building, not from the day the tenant moved in. A tower completed in the last ten years is generally outside the Act. An older urban building, once that window has closed, can be inside it, and eviction then follows the grounds and the procedure in the Act rather than a simple contractual notice. The state can also exempt a building or a class of buildings under Section 3. The Model Tenancy Act, 2021 does not, by itself, replace the 1973 Act. Check for a later notification before you draft as if a new rent code were already in force.

A document headed “leave and licence” is still a lease if the occupant gets exclusive possession of the flat. Courts look at that substance. A genuine licence, such as a seat in a shared office, is a different arrangement. A family taking a 3BHK in Sector 54 or a builder floor in Old Gurugram is taking a lease.

Why so many Haryana agreements say 11 months

Eleven months sits 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. It is still a lease. It still has to be stamped on the rent payable, signed by the landlord and the tenant, and followed by possession.

Three drafting habits pull that paper back into compulsory registration:

• The same document already fixes a second 11 months, so the agreed period exceeds one year.
• Rent is written as a yearly sum (“yearly rent of ₹6,00,000”) even though the calendar term is short. A lease reserving a yearly rent is registrable on its own.
• Renewal is automatic, with no fresh stamp and no fresh signing, 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. The rent agreement workflow keeps that renewal on the same record as the original.

What to settle before the draft is printed

The e-stamp description has to match the deed. Collect the facts before anyone generates a challan on e-GRAS.

Who must sign

• Every owner on the title. One co-owner cannot let the whole flat unless the others have authorised it, or the letting is limited to that owner’s share.
• Every adult who will be a tenant in possession. If both spouses are moving in, name both.
• Where a company, HUF or partnership is a party, the authorised signatory and the paper that authorises them.
• If an owner outside India signs through an attorney, a specific power of attorney for this property, properly executed, attested and stamped. A general family power is a weak basis for a letting.

Describe the premises the way the records do

• Flat or house number, floor, tower or plot, sector or colony, district and PIN code. “DLF phase” or “a builder floor near the metro” is not a legal description.
• Parking, and whether it is an independent slot or only an allotment by the association or the builder.
• Furnishing, with a room-wise inventory signed on the handover day. Photographs of that day matter when the deposit is discussed.
• Residential use only, unless the sanctioned use and the building rules allow the stated commercial use. Many Gurugram residential floors are let, quietly, as offices. That is a different bargain, and often a breach of the building’s use.

Proof the landlord can let it

See the latest title in the landlord’s name before a large deposit moves: the sale deed or conveyance, and a recent electricity or property-tax bill. On an HSVP or other authority allotment, read whether the conveyance has been executed and whether the allotment terms restrict letting or require permission. A relative “looking after the flat” is not the landlord unless the title or a specific authority says so. The same check is the start of a purchase: the sale checklist begins with title, and a letting should not be looser about who hands over the keys.

Stamp duty on a Haryana rent agreement

Duty is charged under Article 35 of Schedule I-A, as applicable to Haryana. The 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.

Article 15, for a bond above ₹1,000, charges ₹7.50 for every ₹500 or part thereof. That is 1.5%. Almost every residential rent is above ₹1,000, so the bond slabs that matter for a house letting work out at 1.5% of the base in the table: the whole rent if the term is under one year, and the average annual rent if the term is between one and five years. This is the rate the state’s own lease assessment has applied for those terms.

Above five years, Article 35 switches to conveyance duty on the average annual rent, or on two, three or four times that rent as the term lengthens. Treating the conveyance rate as 3% produces 3% of average annual rent for five to ten years, 6% for ten to twenty years, 9% for twenty to thirty years, and 12% for thirty to one hundred years. That is how lease duty has been computed in the state’s registration system. It is not the percentage used when someone buys the flat. Urban sale duty in Haryana is a separate, higher schedule and depends on who takes the property and whether it is in a municipal area. Do not paste a sale-deed percentage onto a rent agreement, and do not compute an 11-month letting on the collector rate of the flat. Generate the challan for the exact term and let e-GRAS apply the rate then in force.

What goes into the base

Average annual rent is the average of the rent payable in each year of the term. If the deed escalates, year one alone is the wrong base. The explanation to Article 35 treats as rent any recurring charge the tenant agrees to pay which the law can recover from the landlord, such as the owner’s share of property tax. Maintenance paid straight to the residents’ association, where the clause does not shift the owner’s tax, is usually kept out of the rent figure. Say so in the deed.

A premium, fine or non-refundable advance is charged as a conveyance on that amount, and it is added to the duty on rent where both are present. A refundable security deposit, kept only as security for performance and returned at the end, is not the same thing as that premium. It can still attract duty as a security bond. In the Haryana schedule, Article 57 charges ₹100 on a security bond. Tell the e-stamp form about the deposit so the certificate covers the head that applies. Do not add the whole deposit to the rent and stamp it at conveyance rates unless the sub-registrar has treated that deposit as a premium.

Two worked examples

These illustrate the bond-rate slabs that cover almost every house letting. They are not a challan.

• 11 months at ₹30,000 a month, no escalation. Whole rent payable is ₹30,000 × 11 = ₹3,30,000. Stamp duty at 1.5% is ₹4,950. Registration is not compulsory.
• Three years, starting at ₹30,000 a month, rising 10% a year. Year one is ₹3,60,000, year two is ₹3,96,000, year three is ₹4,35,600. Average annual rent is ₹3,97,200. Stamp duty at 1.5% is ₹5,958. Registration is compulsory because the term exceeds one year.

The ₹100 stamp paper problem

Vendors and some online forms still offer a Haryana agreement on stamp of ₹100 or ₹101, then send the parties to a notary. On the first example above, ₹100 is about a fiftieth of the duty. Notarisation does not cure a short stamp. An insufficiently stamped instrument is not admitted in evidence until the deficit is paid, and the Collector can impound it and recover a penalty that can go up to ten times the shortfall. House-rent allowance claims and a later possession dispute both depend on the instrument being properly stamped.

Pay through e-GRAS, the state’s receipt system, so the certificate names the parties, the property, the consideration and the article. A certificate generated for a different address or an old rent has to be corrected before anyone relies on it. In the absence of a contrary clause, the tenant bears the stamp. Parties often split it. Write the choice into the agreement.

When registration is mandatory

Register the lease if any one of these is true:

• The term is longer than one year.
• 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 followed by possession. You may still register it. You do not have to.

If you skip registration where Section 17 requires it, the document does not create the multi-year lease you wrote down. Where possession was given and rent is paid, the occupation is commonly treated as a month-to-month tenancy. In the absence of a contract, Section 106 of the Transfer of Property Act ends a month-to-month tenancy by fifteen days’ notice expiring with the end of a month of the tenancy. A notice period written in a registered deed replaces that default. An unregistered long lease does not.

Where you register, and by when

Present the deed to the sub-registrar or joint sub-registrar in whose jurisdiction the property sits. Haryana’s Revenue Department takes the filing through its e-registration service and the appointment through Jamabandi. HARIS computes the stamp, the registration fee and the service charge. The registration fee is on the slab in the state’s registration-fee table. Lease deeds are not charged on Delhi’s flat ₹1,100, and they are not automatically on the same slab as a sale of the flat. Pay the figure the system shows for this deed.

Section 23 of the Registration Act requires presentation within four months of execution. A further four months can be allowed on a fine, up to ten times the registration fee. After that window, a document that had to be registered is in serious trouble. Do not sign in March and carry the papers to the tehsil in November.

A lease that must be registered is executed in person, with biometrics, at the sub-registrar. An Aadhaar e-sign 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 finish the document without a tehsil slot. The rent agreement workflow follows that sequence: draft, review, e-stamp, e-sign, and a later renewal.

Notary, e-stamp and registration

A notary records that the people in front of them signed. The notary does not assess Haryana stamp duty and does not enter the deed in HARIS.

• E-stamp, paid on e-GRAS, is what makes the instrument admissible.
• Signatures of both sides, with possession, create the short lease.
• Registration is compulsory for a term over one year, a year-to-year lease, or a yearly rent, and it is the public record of that lease.
• Notarisation is optional on an 11-month Haryana agreement. It does not replace either of the other two.

Clauses the agreement should contain

Haryana does not prescribe one private-letting form for every flat. These clauses are what make the document usable for the deposit, a default, tax and the day the tenant leaves.

Parties and the premises

• Full names, parentage or spouse, age, addresses, phone, email, Aadhaar and PAN of every landlord and every tenant.
• How the landlord holds the property, including whether it is a freehold conveyance or still under an HSVP or other authority allotment.
• A description that identifies the flat, the parking and the fittings. Annex the inventory.
• Other occupants, and a cap on how many people will live there.

Term, rent and payment

• Start date and end date. Two calendar dates are clearer than “eleven months from possession”, because possession dates slip.
• Monthly rent in figures and words, the due date, and any grace period.
• Payment into a named account. Avoid cash. The transfer narration or a rent receipt should name the month.
• Whether society or builder maintenance, parking, water and GST sit inside the rent. If they do not, say who pays each one.
• The escalation, as a percentage or a rupee amount, and the date it applies. If rent is fixed for the term, say that.
• Rent reserved monthly, not as a yearly rent, where you intend to stay under the registration threshold.

Security deposit

• The amount, the date it is paid, and that it is refundable.
• It is not rent. It does not earn interest unless you have agreed interest.
• Deductions limited to unpaid rent, unpaid bills the tenant had to pay, and damage beyond ordinary wear. “As the landlord thinks fit” is how deposits vanish.
• A refund date, counted from vacant possession, return of keys and clearance of those bills.
• The deposit is not a substitute for the notice period unless both sides mean that and the stamp treatment has been checked.

Two or three months’ rent is a common commercial practice in Gurugram. It is not a statutory cap or a statutory minimum. Write the number you actually agreed. Where the 1973 Act applies to the building, do not assume a deposit clause lets the landlord skip the eviction procedure in that Act.

Lock-in, notice and the end of the term

For a tenancy outside the 1973 Act there is no statutory minimum lock-in. If you want one, write the length and the consequence of leaving early. A clause that forfeits the entire deposit regardless of loss is the one most open to attack as a penalty. Prefer rent for the unexpired lock-in, or until a replacement tenant starts, and a duty on the landlord to re-let reasonably.

• Notice after lock-in, for both sides, and how it is sent. Email to a stated address plus a physical copy is easier to prove than a chat message alone.
• Early termination for non-payment beyond the grace period, unlawful use, sub-letting without consent, or use the building rules prohibit.
• Handover of vacant possession, keys and access cards, in the condition in the inventory, fair wear excepted.
• No lock-out, no cutting of electricity, and no removal of belongings as a form of eviction. Where the 1973 Act applies, possession goes through the procedure in that Act. Where it does not, possession is a civil process after a valid notice.

Use, repairs and the building

• Residential use only, unless a different use is sanctioned and allowed by the builder or the association.
• No assignment, sub-letting or short-stay letting without written consent.
• No structural change, and no change to the load, plumbing or the balcony enclosure, without written consent.
• The landlord keeps the structure and permanent fittings habitable. The tenant handles day-to-day items and damage they cause. A rupee threshold for minor repairs prevents small fights.
• The landlord may enter at reasonable hours with notice, except in an emergency.
• Pets only if the building rules already allow them, and only on the terms those rules set.

Utilities, police verification and boilerplate

• Who pays electricity, gas, water and internet, and that dues up to the handover date stay with the previous occupant. In south Haryana that electricity connection is typically with the local discom, not a Delhi utility.
• Maintenance to the association or the builder, move-in charges and parking stickers, each named as someone’s cost.
• An undertaking to file police verification and to share the acknowledgement with the association before or at the time of move-in.
• Who deducts tax at source, and the landlord’s PAN.
• Stamp duty and registration fee: who bears them.
• The annexures are part of the agreement. Governing law is the law of India, and courts at the place in Haryana where the property sits.

Customers usually do this once, for the flat they are moving into. Brokers handling several Gurugram or Faridabad landlords need the same clauses applied the same way, without a fresh Word file each time. Builders leasing ready stock need the stamp and the term to match Haryana, not a template copied from another state. The government fee is still paid on e-GRAS and, where registration is required, at the sub-registrar.

Police verification

Police verification does not create the lease. Stamp, signatures and, where required, registration do that. In urban Haryana it is still a step you should treat as mandatory in practice. Local police stations, and Gurugram Police in particular, expect the landlord to file the tenant’s identity and previous address. Residents’ associations commonly refuse a gate pass or a move-in without the acknowledgement. File it when the agreement is signed, not after the tenant has been living there for a month. Keep a copy with the deed.

Tax points to settle in the same sitting

• House rent allowance. The tenant claims it against rent actually paid, with the agreement and proof of payment. If rent during the year exceeds ₹1,00,000, the landlord’s name and PAN have to be given with the tenant’s declaration.
• TDS by an individual or HUF. Where the tenant is an individual or HUF not required to have accounts audited, and 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 for the month you deduct, deposit it on the prescribed form, and give the landlord the certificate.
• TDS by a business. Companies, firms and others covered by Section 194-I deduct tax on rent, generally at 10% for land and building, once the year crosses the threshold then in force. That threshold has moved in later Finance Acts. It is not the 194-IB threshold. The payer’s accountant should confirm it.
• GST. Rent of a residential dwelling for use as a residence is generally outside GST when the tenant is not registered. Renting that dwelling to a GST-registered tenant can fall under reverse charge. Commercial rent can be taxable, commonly at 18%, once the landlord’s liability is triggered. Write GST into the rent figure only after the person who files the return has confirmed it.

A practical sequence

1. Inspect the flat, the title and the dues. Agree rent, deposit, term, escalation, parking and who pays maintenance. If the building is old enough that the 1973 Act may apply, say so before you draft a simple “vacate on one month’s notice” clause.
2. Draft with monthly rent and calendar dates that match whether you will register.
3. Compute duty on the Haryana base. For 11 months that is 1.5% of the total rent payable, not ₹100, and not the Delhi percentage.
4. Generate the e-stamp on e-GRAS in the correct names.
5. If the term must be registered, file it, take a Jamabandi appointment, appear with witnesses within four months, and pay the HARIS fee. If it is a true 11-month lease, sign against the e-stamp. Notarise only if you want that extra record of the signatures.
6. File police verification and the building’s move-in. Photograph the inventory. Transfer the deposit and the first rent by bank.
7. Hand over keys after the stamp, the signatures and the verification filing are done.
8. Diary the end date and stamp a fresh agreement before the term lapses.

Renewal

A renewal is a new agreement for a new term, on a new stamp of the correct value. If the renewed term is longer than a year, register it, and present it within four months of signing. If you want registration to stay optional, the new term has to remain under one year and must not reserve a yearly rent. “Extended on the same terms” written on the old last page is not that document. Once the original term ends and possession and rent simply continue, the occupation is ordinarily month to month.

Questions people ask before they sign

Does Gurugram follow Delhi rent-agreement rules?

No. Gurugram is in Haryana. Stamp duty, the registration office and the rent-control Act are Haryana’s. A Delhi e-stamp is the wrong instrument for a Haryana flat.

Is an 11-month agreement valid?

Yes, if the term is under one year, it does not reserve a yearly rent, it is stamped at the correct duty, and both sides have signed. Registration is not compulsory. A stamp of ₹100 on a normal city rent is not the correct duty.

Who pays the stamp duty?

The tenant, unless the agreement says otherwise. Write the choice down. The registration fee, where you register, should be allocated in the same clause.

Does the Haryana rent Act apply to every flat?

No. It applies in urban areas, not in cantonments, and a building completed on or after the Act began stays outside it for ten years from completion. After that, and unless a government exemption covers the building, eviction is controlled by the 1973 Act.

Can we register late?

A deed that must be registered should be presented within four months of signing. Delay beyond that is not a formality. Do not rely on getting a slot “whenever the witnesses are free” if that date is outside the four months.

To run the draft, the e-stamp and the renewal as one trail, start from the rent agreement workflow or talk to PropTrak. Workflow fees are on the pricing page. Related notes sit under rentals and renewals and stamp duty and registration.

This is a practical guide to a private residential letting in Haryana. It is not legal, tax or registration advice. Stamp rates, conveyance rates used for longer leases, registration-fee slabs and portal steps change. Have the duty confirmed on e-GRAS, and have a local advocate read the draft, before you pay the deposit or book the sub-registrar.