Nagaland: Lack of tenancy law leading to disputes & mistrust

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Morung Express News
Dimapur | August 16

Rental housing being predominantly an urban phenomenon has been in the need of a uniform regulation across India. In this context, the Union Cabinet on June 2, 2021 approved the Model Tenancy Act, 2021 for adoption by all the States and Union Territories, after several years of deliberation. 

Although the Union Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs circulated the Act to all States and Union Territories on June 7, 2021, over a year later, only four States— Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh and Assam, have revised their tenancy laws in line with the MTA, as of July this year. This data was presented by Minister of State for Housing and Urban Affairs Kaushal Kishore in response to a question in the Rajya Sabha earlier on July 25.

In the absence of a formal and regulated rental tribunal, the disputes and mistrust between owners and tenants in the rental sector in Nagaland are not uncommon.

Looming threat of eviction
For Alhi S, who lives in a rented apartment, he, along with two other tenants were asked to vacate their apartments if they were not satisfied with the facilities in the complex.

“All we did was ask the landlord to fix the water pump which had broken down the previous day, but his immediate reaction was to chastise us and call us ungrateful,” he maintained, while adding that the matter was ‘amicably resolved’ when they pooled in money to repair the pump themselves.

Similarly, Kevi M shared that he was also asked to vacate his apartment and the shop he runs in the ground floor of the same building when he objected to an ‘arbitrary rent hike’ last year.

“Not even a week after I reopened my shop after the COVID lockdown, the landlord arbitrarily raised the rent by Rs 1500 for both the apartment and the shop,” he said.

As per Kevi’s account, any attempt to negotiate the amount ended up with the landlord threatening to lock the premises and evict him. “Since I had not missed a single month’s rent even when I was not working, I explained our business losses and tried to request him to keep the hike at bay for at least two months while we try to stabilize our finances. He would not listen to our pleas,” he maintained.

Kevi said he had “no option but to relent to his (landlord) demands,” and eventually ended up paying the raised rent.

“We live on their property, and at the end of the day, until and unless I earn enough to buy my own land and house, I will have to live under their mercy,” he rued.

On the other hand, property owners also have their fair share of problems when it comes to leasing out their property.

One such landlord, who wished to remain anonymous, shared that one of his tenants had informed the caretaker that he would be visiting his native village for a week and left without paying rent. However, even after a month had passed, the tenant did not return.

“After multiple attempts to contact him, we decided to break the lock and empty the apartment. But to our shock, we found that he had already taken all his belongings and left,” he said.

Since most of my tenants are students, I don’t ask for security deposits, but after this incident, I have to ask for a month’s rent just to be on the safe side, he added.

Balance in the interests of landlord & tenant
The rental market has so far been unregulated in Nagaland, and the rights of tenants as well as landlords in the state primarily focus on rent control and verbal agreements which dictate the terms of most rental agreements.

Considering the high decadal growth of urban population which was at 69 percent against the national growth rate of 21 percent as of March 2022, it appears that policy intervention based on the MTA would bring in the much needed reforms to regulate the rental housing market which includes residential and commercial premises, by establishing guidelines to create a balance in the interests of landlord and tenant.

Mention may be made, that even in terms of the Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act (RERA), 2016 passed by the Indian parliament on May 1, 2016, Nagaland remains the only state which has not notified rules under RERA.

According to data on the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA) website, as of July 6, 2022, out of the total 28 states and 8 UTs, all except Nagaland have set up prescribed regulatory frameworks of the RERA Authority and the corresponding appellate tribunal, as stated in the RERA Act and also framed state-specific RERA rules.