SoBo tenants dreading rent hikes

Residents of Marine Drive, Cuffe Parade and Worli fear forceful eviction from their flats

South Mumbai residents from areas like Marine Drive, Cuffe Parade and Worli fear forceful eviction from their flats if they fail to pay the increased amount of rent after the Rent Control Act is amended. On the other hand, landlords are of the view that it is their land and they should be allowed to charge according to the market rate. The state government has proposed by excluding the protection of residential and commercial tenants above 847 sq ft and 547 sq ft after amending the Maharashtra Rent Control Act, 1999.

Jayantilal Vora, landlord of a plot at Slater Road near Grant Road, said, “I have owned a plot since my birth here and I have been trying to redevelop the building, which is dilapidated. Even the structural audit done by civic authorities like Mhada and BMC suggested it be redeveloped. But firstly my tenants, who own shops, are not ready to move in just because they have their own opinions. Also, the rent they are paying is not enough for me to do the repair works. There may be an image of landlords being rich. But I am not that rich and cannot afford to bear all the repair works by the rent of `300 and `900 I receive from residential and commercial tenants. They should be charged according to the market rate.”

The amendments will allow the landlords to charge rent according to the market rate and also give them the power to revise the rent periodically and also get tenants vacated from their premises if they fail to pay.

“I am a widow and I fear that I will have to evict my sea-facing flat at Marine-Drive just because once the rent is increased, I will have to pay `1.5 to `2 lakh while now the rent is `700. My monthly income is not more than `30,000 and in that I also have to look after my four daughters,” said Usha Vij (78), tenant of a flat at D Road in Marine Drive.

The reason behind amending the Act, according to the state government, is that it has given an undertaking to the Centre that while adopting the Centre’s ‘Housing For All’ scheme it would incorporate provisions of the draft of the Centre’s Model Rent Control Act in the state’s Rent Control Act.

Mahendra Hemdev, an ALM member, said, “The state government needs to review its decision and come out with an amendment where the landlords and tenants both are not left agitated.”