Jail terms out, penalties in: Karnataka rewrites rent law enforcement for Bengaluru’s rental market

Bengaluru:

For thousands of landlords and tenants navigating Bengaluru’s rental housing market, the rules of enforcement have changed.

The Karnataka government has amended the Karnataka Rent Act, 1999, removing imprisonment for minor violations and replacing criminal prosecution with steep monetary penalties adjudicated by Rent Controllers. The changes came into force immediately after the notification was published in the official gazette on December 10, 2025.

The Karnataka Rent (Amendment) Act, 2025 is aimed at decriminalising technical and procedural lapses under the rent law, while strengthening financial deterrence for non-compliance. The reform is part of the state’s alignment with the Centre’s Jan Vishwas (Amendment of Provisions) Act, 2023, which seeks to promote trust-based governance and ease of living and doing business.

Importantly for Bengaluru’s tenants—many of whom routinely face demands for high security deposits—the amendment does not alter existing limits on deposits. The current provisions under the Karnataka Rent Act continue to cap deposits at two months’ rent for residential properties and six months’ rent for non-residential premises.

Instead, the amendment focuses on how violations are dealt with, not on revising substantive rights or limits under the law.

Criminal offences replaced with civil penalties

A key change is the complete omission of Section 53, which earlier dealt with criminal cognisance and prosecution of offences under the Act. With this, violations of the Rent Act are no longer treated as criminal offences requiring court trials or jail terms.

The law now relies on civil penalties, with fines significantly increased across a wide range of violations. Depending on the nature of the contravention, penalties can extend up to ₹10,000, ₹30,000 or ₹50,000, and in some cases up to double the rent received after unlawful re-letting.

Earlier, many of these violations attracted nominal fines of ₹1,000 to ₹5,000, along with the provision for simple imprisonment of up to one month.

Rent Controller gets adjudicatory powers

The amendment empowers the Rent Controller to act as an adjudicating officer for determining penalties under Section 54 of the Act. This shifts enforcement away from criminal courts to an administrative mechanism, a move expected to be particularly relevant in Bengaluru, where rent-related disputes are frequent and courts already face heavy backlogs.

The Controller will now decide penalties for failures such as non-furnishing of tenancy agreements, withholding mandated information, unlawful collection of charges, unauthorised re-letting of premises, and denial or disruption of essential services.

To ensure penalties remain effective over time, the amendment introduces an escalation clause. All prescribed penalties will increase by 10% of the minimum penalty amount every three years, starting from the commencement of the Amendment Act, in a manner to be prescribed by rules.

Reflecting the shift away from criminalisation, the amendment replaces the word “offences” with “contraventions” in Section 55 of the Act. It also introduces a safeguard for individuals—such as directors or managers—allowing them to avoid liability if they can prove that a violation occurred without their knowledge or despite due diligence.

However, where contraventions are committed with the consent, connivance or neglect of company officials, such individuals will continue to be held personally liable and required to pay penalties.

Impact on Bengaluru’s rental ecosystem

With Bengaluru housing a large migrant workforce and a predominantly rental-dependent population, the amendment is expected to recalibrate how disputes are handled—reducing the threat of criminal action while increasing financial accountability. The government has said the reform adheres to the principle of “minimum government, maximum governance” and will not impose any additional financial burden on the state.

While tenant groups may welcome the retention of deposit caps and the removal of jail provisions, the sharp rise in penalties signals that compliance under the Rent Act will be enforced more stringently through monetary deterrence rather than criminal law.