Living in Dhaka City is not easy on the wallet. More than half the population lives in rental apartments. One needs to contribute a major portion of their income for rent. Most people can only ever dream of having a house of their own. Thus, in a place where rent is the norm, strong tenancy rights, landlord laws, its efficient uptake and the responsibilities of landlords becomes necessary for smooth operations of the city’s housing situation.
The landlord vs. tenant dispute is a widespread phenomenon even though there are laws to serve as a blueprint for basic interactions. Despite the laws and acts, there are some primary duties that every landlord or homeowner should perform or follow. Sometimes it seems like there are no rules in this regard since there is no regulatory body for monitoring the impulsive activities of so many landlords.
Do’s – The Responsibilities of Landlords
1) Keep records
A landlord must maintain written records of their tenants’ rental payments. This way, neither party can create false allegations in the future. The owner can obtain a receipt with the rental amount written, signed by him/her. Hence, this works as security for avoiding irrational disputes. There is already a law in place to avoid this situation known as the Premises Rent Control Act, 1991. Under this act, a mandatory provision is the ‘rent receipt.’ According to section 13 of the Act, every tenant who makes payments of rent for any premises of the landlord’s shall be entitled to obtain a written receipt, signed by the landlord, for the amount paid. This is considered a vital responsibility of landlords and has to be maintained strictly.
2) Overnight Guest Flexibility
Some landlords get very skeptical about their tenants’ guests’ movement on their property. There are even those who impose rules to register any resident’s guest if they come to stay over. This sort of practice is looked down upon and should be brought up beforehand in the agreement of rent.
3) Secrecy of Tenant’s Information
As the owner, you have the right to ask for certain confidential information regarding your tenants. However, that does not entitle you to share that information to other parties unless required by law to do so. Landlords must be alert and careful about preserving their tenants’ information as any disclosure of it is a breach of trust.
4) Maintenance of the Unit
Major maintenance of the property rests on the shoulders of the landlord. This responsibility includes property’s cleanliness, repairs, and checks from time to time. A landlord must accede to building codes, maintain common areas and provide vital services without any disruption until or unless there is any power supply glitch. Besides, the owner should look after plumbing, electricity, heat, and running water, to make sure everything is working order to ensure tenants have the facilities they are entitled to.
5) Allowing Privacy
Some landlords indulge in their residents’ privacy without any reason. They must take the permission of their occupants to get into their respective unit, so it does not impede on their privacy. Some find ways to go past the responsibilities of landlords and harass their tenants and make it difficult for them to stay. Tenants have the right to take legal actions against the landlord under such circumstances.
Don’ts
1) Verbal Contract
Written contracts work as a hefty safeguard for both parties. On the contrary, verbal contracts bring are likely to infringe both parties’ commitments. A landlord might seamlessly claim an absurd cause to manipulate the conditions of the rental and impose unexpected costs upon tenants violating tenancy rights. Landlords should avoid the practice of verbal commitments. As tenants might also recess their promises to pay rent accordingly claiming that there was no written documentation of the conditions agreed upon before renting.
2) Taking Advantage of Tenant’s Humbleness
Those tenants who stay very humble and sincere about paying rent monthly might face a sudden increase in their rent. Many landlords do it according to their will to exploit their residents in an attempt to make more money. According to section 7 of the Rent Act in Bangladesh, there are specific restrictions on raising rent, how much they can be raised, as well as how much notice needs to be given to the existing tenant beforehand.
3) Being Snoopy
Landlords are naturally very curious about the residents they choose as tenants. Being curious extends to the responsibilities of landlords since it involves ensuring the safety and security of a building. But landlords should be aware of where to draw the line. Questioning guests, peeking through their windows, and conducting surveillance are an infringement of tenancy rights on privacy and might expose landlords to potential lawsuits.
4) Forceful Eviction
If you feel the need to evict a tenant for security reasons, you must still give them prior notice. Since if a landlord suddenly evicts a tenant, it may follow with unexpected repercussions for the landlord. If you need to evict a tenant, make sure you file cause and reason with a public record. This serves to aid their future landlords to figure why your former tenant was a problem.
5) Extra Charges in the Name of Development
Responsibilities of landlords extend to development of a property, of course. It’s a welcoming expansion for most tenants, but those developments should at least be real. Many corrupt landlords exist in our country. Many are just bad landlords, but many go so far as to extort money from tenants in the name of ‘development’ that no one will ever see.
A landlord provides a home to a tenant. Therefore, the homeowners are thus obligated to assist landlords in maintaining a clean and safe environment. Bproperty is a great platform for these conditions as we specialize in finding the perfect tenant for all the rental listings on our website.
