Karnataka Rent Act Amendment of January 2026: Who Is Covered and What Changed
Tenants and landlords across Bangalore keep hearing about a new rent law, and much of the chatter is wrong. What actually passed was a brief amendment on punishment, signed in the first week of 2026. This note covers who the law reaches, what it altered and what it never mentioned.
Does the Law Reach a Given Rental?
Karnataka's 1999 rent statute does not govern every rented home. Premises whose standard rent runs above Rs. 3,500 per month in the localities placed in Part A of the First Schedule are left out. For the rest of the state the ceiling falls to Rs. 2,000. Premises used for non-residential purposes are mostly out as well, with an exception for small commercial units of 14 sq m or less.
Most flats in places such as Whitefield or HSR Layout rent for more than those limits. They are therefore ruled mainly by the signed agreement, with older property and registration statutes in the background. Old tenancies at very low rent are the ones that remain fully inside the 1999 law, and so inside the amendment.
Timeline of the Amendment
Legislators received the Bill at the Belagavi session, held in December 2025. Assent was given by the Governor on 7 January 2026, and the law appeared in the Karnataka Gazette a day later as Act 07 of 2026. It started working immediately.
The aim set out in the Bill is to treat small breaches as civil matters, not crimes, and to put the fines on a sensible scale. The central Jan Vishwas Act of 2023 was the model.
Four Sections, Four Edits
Just four provisions of the older law are touched. The changes are these:
- Section 24: penalties are now decided by the Rent Controller, who also acts as adjudicating officer
- Section 53: the prosecution route through a magistrate no longer exists
- Section 54: month-long prison terms are scrapped and the fines rise
- Section 55: lapses by companies are labelled contraventions and answered with penalties
A fresh sub-section adds a built-in increase. Three years after the start, and at three-year intervals after that, each penalty goes up by an amount equal to a tenth of the minimum penalty.
The Penalty Comparison
The table below shows the main breaches, with the old outcome set against the present one:
| Breach | Old position | Position now |
|---|---|---|
| Lease not shown, or tenancy details not filed | Up to Rs. 2,000 as fine, or a month in jail, or both; Rs. 500 for every day | Up to Rs. 2,000 as penalty; Rs. 5,000 for every day |
| Subletting without authority | Fine to Rs. 5,000, a month's jail or both | Penalty to Rs. 50,000 |
| Premium or pugree against the Act | Fine to Rs. 3,000, a month's jail or both | Penalty to Rs. 30,000 |
| Re-letting after taking possession for own use or rebuilding | Rs. 5,000 or twice the fresh rent, with jail possible | Rs. 50,000 or twice the fresh rent, whichever is higher |
| Disconnecting an essential service | Rent for three months, jail up to a month, Rs. 100 daily | Rent for three months, with Rs. 1,000 daily until restored |
| Refusing details the Act requires | Fine of up to Rs. 1,000, a month's jail or both | Up to Rs. 10,000 as penalty |
| Estate agent without registration | Up to Rs. 2,000 as fine, a month in jail, Rs. 2,000 for every day | Up to Rs. 2,000 as penalty; Rs. 20,000 for every day |
In every row the prison term goes and the money amount grows around tenfold. Officers running a company are spared only if they prove the breach happened unknown to them or in spite of care.
Rumours the Act Does Not Support
Five short clauses leave the amending Act little room for the claims now doing the rounds. The text is silent on all of these:
- A deposit limit, quoted as 2 months of rent for homes and 6 months for shops and offices
- A duty to register every lease online, with a fixed fine for failing
- A 90-day wait before the rent can be raised
- A 24-hour warning before the landlord enters
These ideas come from the Model Tenancy Act of 2021, a blueprint that binds nobody until a state enacts its own version. For tenancies outside the 1999 law, the deposit is simply what both sides write down. Amount, date of refund and permitted deductions all belong in that agreement.
Sensible Habits for Tenants
For a tenant, the signed agreement matters more than any statute. These steps put a tenancy on a firm footing:
- Have the rent, deposit, annual rise and notice period written down
- Pay by bank and hold on to the records
- Photograph the rooms on moving day and attach the inventory
- Register any lease longer than twelve months, as the Registration Act insists
- Ask for the refund conditions and the list of deductions in writing
Where the 1999 law applies, a landlord who stops the water or power can be taken to the Rent Controller. The new daily penalty lends that complaint weight. It is the clearest case in which the amendment helps an ordinary tenant.
Sensible Habits for Landlords
Owners should first see whether the letting falls inside the 1999 law. If it does, the lease must be written and presented as the law requires, and subletting or re-letting breaches now cost much more. Estate agents involved must be registered.
Investors who buy flats to rent out can keep fixing deposits by agreement, as no limit is in force. A limit would require new legislation, so plans are worth revisiting if a tenancy Bill is ever tabled. Owners living abroad can read more on our NRI page.
