UT mulls fixing number of rent agreements per house
Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, March 11
Now, house owners will not be able to run unauthorised paying guest (PG) accommodations in the garb of keeping tenants and showing paying guests as tenants by signing rent agreements with them.
The UT Administration is planning to fix the maximum number of rent agreements a house owner can execute with his/her tenants to prevent misuse of the premises.
Restricting number of paying guests on cards
- A senior officer said the administration is also planning to restrict the number of paying guests per floor in view of safety and security of occupants.
- Following the Administration’s crackdown on illegal PG accommodations, a number of house owners started signing rent agreements with their paying guests in order to evade action by
the authorities.
A senior officer said the administration was also planning to restrict the number of paying guests per floor in view of safety and security of occupants.
The Administration was forced to take stringent measures after three young girl students lost their lives in a fire at an illegal PG accommodation in Sector 32 on February 22.
Following the Administration’s crackdown on illegal PG accommodations, a number of house owners started signing rent agreements with their paying guests in order to evade action by the authorities.
The officer said that it was a grey area and house owners were taking advantage of it. The step was being taken to plug this loophole, he added.
After the incident, the Administration also made relevant changes in the policy for registration of PG accommodations.
In addition to the previous conditions, certain new provisions such as mandatory fire clearance, annual renewal of licence, indemnity certificate from PG owners etc were included in the revised policy.
In view of the ongoing examinations, the authorities gave some relaxation to the PG owners and allowed them provisional registration subject to the condition that they would obtain occupation certificate within three months and fire clearance within a month.
To overcome the shortage of accommodation, the authorities have started construction of hostels for 6,000 students in colleges located in Sectors 42, 46, 50 and PEC.
The Estate Office received a total of 88 applications for registration of PG accommodations so far. Of the total applications, 43 have been issued provisional certificates to run their accommodations.
