You own a house in Lahore or Karachi and you rented it out. The tenant has not paid rent for three months. Or he has sublet a room without asking. Or you are retiring and you need the house back. What does the law let you do?
Pakistan has no single rent law. Every province has its own. This guide covers the two big ones, the Punjab Rented Premises Act 2009 and the Sindh Rented Premises Ordinance 1979. The details differ, but the shape is the same: a written agreement, a rent tribunal, and a fixed list of reasons to evict. The tenant side of the same relationship is covered in our guide to tenant rights in Pakistan.
Your right to the rent
The rent is due on the date written in the agreement. If no date is written, the tenant must pay by the tenth of the following month. That is the rule in both Punjab and Sindh.
If the tenant stops paying, you do not have to wait forever. In Punjab, rent unpaid for thirty days after the due date is a ground for eviction. In Sindh, the default window is fifteen days after the agreed payment date, or sixty days when no date was agreed.
Here is the part many landlords miss. While your eviction case is running, the tribunal orders the tenant to keep depositing the rent. In Punjab the Rent Tribunal directs the tenant to deposit the rent due and to keep paying monthly until the case ends, into your bank account or into the tribunal. If he stops, the tribunal can pass the final order against him. Sindh works the same way. The defence can be struck off and you can be put back in possession. A tenant who thinks the case buys him free housing is wrong.
The grounds to get your property back
You cannot evict a tenant for any reason you like. The law lists the reasons. In Punjab they sit in section 15: the term has ended; rent unpaid for thirty days after the due date; breach of a term of the agreement; the tenant broke a duty under section 13; the premises are used for a different purpose; or the tenant sublet without your written consent.
Sindh's list is close. Rent default. Handing the house to someone else without consent. Change of use. Acts that damage the property. Nuisance to neighbours. Rebuilding the structure with official sanction. And your genuine need of the house for yourself or your family.
One fast track exists in Sindh. A widow, a minor whose both parents are dead, a salaried employee retiring within six months, or a person turning sixty can ask for the house back for personal use with two months written notice.
You cannot evict the tenant yourself
Change the locks and throw the luggage out? No. The law gives the eviction power to the tribunal, not to you. In Sindh the ordinance says plainly that no tenant shall be evicted except under the ordinance. In Punjab every eviction runs through the Rent Tribunal, and a tribunal order is executed like a court decree. For the full process step by step, see our guide to evicting a tenant in Pakistan.
Protecting the house while it is rented
The tenant must keep the house in the condition it was let out, apart from normal wear and tear. He cannot make structural changes without your written consent. He cannot sublet without your written consent. He must let you in for inspection or repair.
You, in turn, may enter only with reasonable notice. Punjab says that in so many words. Notice is the price of access. If the tenant refuses entry after proper notice, that is a breach you can take to the tribunal.
What you cannot do
Three lines you must not cross. First, no cutting off water, gas or electricity to force the tenant out. Punjab bans it without just cause. Sindh makes it an offence with up to six months simple imprisonment or a fine. Second, no entering without notice. Third, no rent above what the agreement says.
Rent increases
In Punjab there is no fixed cap. The increase is whatever the agreement says. If the agreement is silent and the rent is fixed only for part of the term, the law says the rent stays the same for the whole term. So put the increase rate in writing at the start. If you do not, you cannot invent one later.
In Sindh the increase cannot go above 10 percent a year on the existing rent. And once the Controller fixes a fair rent, it cannot be revised before three years pass.
Selling the house with a tenant inside
You can sell a rented house. The buyer steps into your shoes as landlord. But the tenant must be told. In Punjab the new owner must send a written intimation of the transfer and get his name entered with the Rent Registrar. In Sindh the new owner must intimate the transfer by registered post. The tenant then gets thirty days to pay the rent to the new owner without being treated as a defaulter.
If you never wrote the agreement
Punjab makes a written tenancy agreement mandatory, presented to the Rent Registrar. If you skipped that step, the tribunal will not entertain your application until you deposit a fine of 10 percent of the annual value of the rent. The tenant pays 5 percent. Fix the paperwork now, before you need the tribunal. What the agreement must contain is set out in our guide to rent agreements in Pakistan.
How the case runs
You file an application in the Rent Tribunal of the district. For an eviction, you submit your affidavit and the affidavits of not more than two witnesses. The tenant must obtain leave to contest within ten days, or the tribunal passes the final order. The tribunal should decide within four months, and if it does not, the case runs day to day. An appeal goes to the District Judge within thirty days.
Sindh follows the same shape through a Controller, with appeals to the District Judge within thirty days.
What to do right now
Write everything down. A signed agreement, registered with the Rent Registrar in Punjab or attested in Sindh. Rent paid by bank transfer with receipts. Photographs of the house on day one. On the deposit side, the rules on how much you can take are set out in our guide to security deposits in Pakistan. If a tenant damages the house or sublets without consent, send a written notice first, then go to the tribunal. Never take the law into your own hands.
For more reading, the Lexiber blog has guides on every part of renting, and you can start from the Lexiber home page.
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