India
Renting & Tenant Rights
Last verified August 15, 2026
Written for U.S. passport holders
No Single National Rental Law
- Housing falls under the State List in India's Constitution, so there's no single nationwide rent-control or tenancy law; each state has its own Rent Control Act, and the rules that actually apply to you depend entirely on which state (and sometimes city) you're renting in.
- In 2021, the central government approved the Model Tenancy Act as a suggested framework for states to adopt, but it's non-binding. Only a handful of states (including Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Tamil Nadu, and Uttar Pradesh) have updated their laws along its lines; many others, including Maharashtra, Karnataka, and West Bengal, still run on their older, separate Rent Control Acts.
What This Means Practically
- Deposit limits, notice periods, and eviction protections that hold in one Indian state may simply not exist, or work completely differently, in the next state over. There's no way to give one accurate national answer the way you can for a single-country civil code system.
- Before signing, it's worth specifically checking which Rent Control Act (or Model Tenancy Act-based law) applies in the state and city where you're actually renting, rather than relying on general advice about 'India.'
The Gotcha
This is the one entry on this site where the honest answer to 'what are the rules' is: it depends on which state you're in. India's rent laws are genuinely fragmented at the state level, and a rule you read about (say, from a Delhi-focused blog) may not apply at all if you're renting in Bangalore or Mumbai. Confirm the specific state law before assuming anything general applies to your lease.
Sources
This page was drafted from the primary sources below. Rules change, so check the linked page directly before relying on any of this.
- The Model Tenancy Act, 2021 (Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, Government of India)