Is It Mandatory | Benefits | Procedures | Clearance Certificate | List | Criminal Incidents | Safety Tips
The past two decades have seen a huge rise in students and IT professionals migrating to Pune owing to the exponential growth in their respective sectors. Pimpri, Chinchwad, Wakad, Ravet, Punawale, and Urse are areas in Pune that have seen an exorbitant rise in tenant demand.
The moderate and pleasant weather and affordable cost of living compared to other big cities like Mumbai and Bangalore are other contributing factors. Pune, as a city, has been friendly with its residents.
Outsider migration leads to a rise in tenant culture and eventually unlocks opportunities for landlords in that city to rent out their additional property. Letting out your property for rent comes with its own risks and rewards. With an all-time high crime rate, due diligence before letting out your property is a must if you don’t want trouble for yourselves and your family. So, if you are a landlord in Pune and are planning to rent your property out, then keep reading to know all about the tenant police verification process in Pune.
Also, read about PCMC Property Tax!
Is Tenant Police Verification in Pune Mandatory?
Although not mandatory by the Indian government, tenant police verification is highly advised. According to Section 188 of the Indian penal code (IPC). A landlord can be penalized with a fine of up to 200 INR or imprisoned for up to a year or both if the tenant engages in illegal activities. The Model Tenancy Act of 2019 lays strong emphasis on tenant police verification.
Benefits of Tenant Police Verification
- It gives you information about whether the potential tenant has any criminal records or not.
- Helps you make wise decisions on letting out.
- People with bad intentions rent out properties as a hub for their illegal activities such as drugs, liquor, rave parties, prostitution, and terrorism planning. A tenant police verification instils fear in their minds and will make them think 100 times before indulging in anything unlawful.
- Tenants will ensure non-damage to the property and make sure to pay the rent on time.
- Enables you to keep a healthy relationship with your tenants
- Gives you overall peace of mind.
Tenant Police Verification in Pune Procedures
As a landlord in Pune, you can complete your tenant police verification either by an online process or an offline process.
Online process:
In today’s digital world, where everyone wants things online, whether it be groceries, apparel, or medicines, I recommend you get your tenant police verification done online too. It obviously saves you time and effort. Follow the steps below:
- Download your form here: chrome-extension://efaidnbmnnnibpcajpcglclefindmkaj/https://easyrentagreement.com/pdf/tenant-intimation-form.pdf
- Get all the required details from your tenant – full name, date of birth, phone number, employment address, employer contact number, permanent address, and two references.
- Get soft copies of their colour passport size photo and ID proof(Any one among pan card, voters id, ration card, Aadhar card, driver’s license, and passport). Make sure that the file size is a maximum of 4 MB and is in png, jpeg, or PDF format.
- Fill out the form and submit it on http://www.mhpolice.maharashtra.gov.in/Citizen/Login.aspx
- You and your tenant might be required to visit the police station if required.
With this, the police will have all the necessary information about your tenant in their records. They’ll notify you if the tenant engages in any suspicious activity, which will help you further initiate action against them. Eventually, this process will set the ground for deciding whether you want to continue or terminate the rental agreement.
Offline process:
If you want to get your tenant police verification done offline, you’ll need to visit the nearest police station. There, obtain the form, fill it out, and submit it along with the photos and your tenants’ id proof.
Obtaining a Pune Police Clearance Certificate (PCC)
The last step in the tenant police verification process in Pune is to obtain a Police clearance certificate. The certificate states whether the tenant has any past criminal records. You can obtain that at: https://pcs.mahaonline.gov.in/Forms/Home.aspx
List of Police Stations in Pune
Criminal Incidents in Pune where Tenants were not Verified
- In early 2022, one Gulab Mohammed Mukhtar Shaikh, who stayed as a migrant tenant in the Lohegaon area of Pune, murdered his landlady by strangulating her for not indulging in an affair with him. The police later tracked and arrested him in his hometown in Bihar.
- In 2020, Yogesh Satav, a landlord from the Shukruwar area of Pune, was abducted and forced by his tenants to sign a paper allowing them to use his premises rent-free. When he went to claim back his rights, the tenants threatened to transfer his property to their name.
- In 2017, one Shubham Vinayakrao Jamnik, who rented a house in the Dighi area of Pune, kidnapped and murdered his landlord’s daughter. He and his cousin first kidnapped the girl and drove her off in their car. When the girl’s parents filed a police complaint, the duo were asked by the police to come back for questioning. After hours of questioning, they confessed that they murdered the girl and buried her body out of panic.
Other Safety Tips for Landlords:
- Frequently visit your property to ensure there is nothing fishy or untoward.
- Make clauses in your agreement that allow you to make such visits and hold your tenant liable for any wrongdoing on your property.
- Set your expectations straight in the agreement and verbally.
- Make friends with people around your property, and ask them to notify you whenever necessary.
Your safety is in your hands. So my message to all landlords is to please get your tenants’ police verification done and only then let out your property. There have been instances where decent-looking and educated people have committed heinous crimes after taking properties for rent. This has spoiled the owner’s reputation apart from causing them a financial dent.
Do not let out your property on mere trust. In Pune, police can lodge an FIR against a landowner for renting a property to a tenant without a tenant Police Verification.