Md. Aminul Hoque Siddiqe* and Asma Al Amin
Abstract: Urbanization has been a significant outcome of civilization, which has led to a surge in rental accommodations. In Bangladesh, the majority of people live as tenants in other people’s houses, and the majority of tenants struggle to keep up with annual rent increases. Although there was an Ordinance of 1986 to deal with house rent, it was out of date, and therefore, the Premises Rent Control Act of 1991 was passed to regulate the entire system. The key purpose of this study is to identify the loopholes in the law and its application and search for measures to effective solutions thereof. The study revealed that the law’s ineffective implementation has led to chaos and a strained relationship between landlords and tenants. Moreover, most house owners and tenants, two major stakeholders in the system, are unaware of the legislation. By utilizing a mixed-method approach that combines qualitative and quantitative analysis, this study sheds light on the reasons behind the non-implementation of the law, and it offers recommendations to policymakers for sustainable and effective implementation of the Premises Rent Control Act of 1991.
Keywords: House rent, controller, standard rent, landlords, tenants
References
Akter, T., Hasan, Md. M., Zaman, A. U., Hossain, Md. R., & Neema, M. N. (2013). Analysis of potential factors bringing disparity in house rent of Dhaka City. In B. Murgante, S. Misra, M. Carlini, C. M. Torre, H.-Q. Nguyen, D. Taniar, B. O. Apduhan, & O. Gervasi (Eds.), Computational Science and Its Applications – ICCSA 2013 (Vol. 7973, pp. 408–421). Springer Berlin Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-39646-5_30
Bari, S. M. (2022). The Constitutional Equilibrium of the Bangladesh Premises Rent Control Act, 1991, British Journal of Arts and Humanities, 52–62. https://doi.org/10.34104/bjah.022052062
Boonyabancha, S. (2005). Baan Mankong: Going to scale with “slum” and squatter upgrading in Thailand. Environment and Urbanization, 17 (1), 21–46.
Chaturvedi, N. (n.d.). Rent control acts in India: A critical analysis. https://www.academia.edu/10649450/Rent_Control_Acts_in_India_A_Critical_Review
Cost of living almost double in 5 yrs. (2011, September 30). The Daily Online Alochona. http://dailyalochona.blogspot.com/2011_09_30_archive.html?m=1
Cost of living goes up 6.5%: CAB. (2020, 17 January). The Business Standards. https://tbsnews.net/economy/cost-living-bangladesh-increased-65-percent-2019-cab
Dey, A. B. (2011, November 24). House rent: Owner the arbitrator. The Daily Star. https://www.thedailystar.net/news-detail-211359
Dey, P. D., & Dev, S. (2006). Rent Control Laws in India A Critical Analysis.
Gilbert, A. (2016). Rental housing: The international experience. Habitat International, 54, 173–181. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.habitatint.2015.11.025
Jabeen, A., Sheng, H. X., & Aamir, M. (2015). Housing crises in Pakistan: Review of population growth and deficiencies in housing laws and policies. International Journal of Sciences, 24(3), 323–347
Kutty, N. K. (2002). The house poor: Are high housing costs keeping non-poor Americans at poverty standards of living? Paper presented at the ENHR, Conference in Vienna, Austria.
Living costs rise 6.47pc. (2017, January 02). The Daily Star. https://www.thedailystar.net/business/living-costs-rise-647pc-1339051
Meraj Mavis (2022, June 5). Average cost of living in Dhaka is prohibitively expensive. The Dhaka Tribune. https://www.dhakatribune.com/business/2022/06/05/average-cost-of-living-in-dhaka-is-prohibitively-expensive.
Mikhed, V., & Zemcˇík, P. (2009). Do house prices reflect fundamentals? Aggregate and panel data evidence. Journal of Housing Economics, 18, 140–149.
Noyon, A. B. (2019, December 25). Dream of owning a home still elusive for many. The Business Standard. https://www.tbsnews.net/bangladesh/dream-owning-home-still-elusive-many.
Pillarisetti, J. R. (1999). Economic reform, overlapping property rights, and polarisation in the real estate market(Discussion Paper No. 04/99).
Rahman, Mir Obaidur. Household Income and Expenditure Survey 2016. (2019, May 23) The Daily Sun, p. 06.
Robertson, S. T. (2009, April 08). Landlords’ decree. The Daily Star. https://www.thedailystar.net/news-detail-83144
Samad, R. B.., Chisty, K.U., & Rahman, A. (2015). Bangladesh Institute of Planners Urbanization and urban growth dynamics: A study on Chittagong City. Journal of Bangladesh Institute of Planners, 8, 167–174.
Rubel, R. D. (2018, January, 08) চসিকগৃহকরনাবাড়ালেওবছরশেষেবাড়িভাড়াবাড়ছেআগেরনিয়মেই. Cplustvbd. https://cplusbd.net/epaper/single.php?id=16110
Silva, E. B., & Wright, D. (2009). Displaying desire and distinction in housing, Cultural Sociology, 3(1), 31–50.
Tajuddin, A.S.M (2017). Provisions for dispute settlement of rented house affairs and standard rent are only rhetoric: A study of Chittagong and Sylhet residential area. Bangladesh Research Foundation Journal,140, 2305–1566.
Thalmann, P. (2003). House poor or simply poor? Journal of Housing Economics, 12, 291–317.
The Constitution of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh, 1972.
Willis, J. W. (n.d.). Short History of Rent Control Laws. রহমানশামসুর. (2022, December 10). এবারবাড়ছেবাড়িভাড়াও. The Daily Prothom Alo. https://www.prothomalo.com/bangladesh/7i1utp9lso#