Enact fresh law to control house rent
Govt urged
It is time to pass a law to safeguard the tenants' interests in the capital against the backdrop of ever-increasing house rents, said speakers at a press conference yesterday.
Citizen Rights Movement at the event held at the Jatiya Press Club placed four-point demand, including enactment of a new law and amendments to Premises Rent Control Act, 1991.
Speakers urged the government to run mobile courts to keep watch on house owners hiking the rents arbitrarily.
Ninety per cent house owners do not go for a written agreement with their tenants, which is totally illegal and tyrannical to the tenants, said eminent columnist Syed Abul Maksud.
Speakers also demanded at least a two-year agreement between a landlord and a tenant and a provision not to increase the rents by more than 10 per cent at a time.
Tushar Rehman, director general of Citizen Rights Movement, said 90 per cent of the city dwellers in the capital are tenants but they are held hostage to the house owners that make up only a small percentage.
Terming the existing law weak, barrister Sadia Arman said it has prioritised the interests of house owners at the expense of tenants.
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