Union Budget 2019: Reforming tenancy law will help rental housing market

Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in her maiden Budget focused more on the infrastructure development by allocating Rs 100 lakh crore for the next 5 years which is a commendable announcement. The government has taken all the measures to fulfill its vision on the Corporate India and New India. The Government has acknowledged the significant role played by the real estate industry in the employment sector and also the reforms the industry has gone through in the last five years. It is heartening that CREDAI’s long standing proposals to reform archaic rental laws and promote public housing on government land figure among the immediate policy agenda outlined by FM.

In the affordable housing sector, the government has kept the promise it made last term: to create more demand and make housing available for all by 2022. An additional deduction of Rs 1,50,000 on interest on loans borrowed under affordable housing has been announced, which will further boost the segment. The reforms to push rental housing through tenancy law is a welcome move as it brings relief among the people who are living in the rented houses as it proposed to give equal rights to lessor and lessee. Merging foreign portfolio investment route with NRI portfolio investment route will bring in more investment. Overall, it sounds like a balanced budget but, the key will lie in the effective implementation of the various welfare schemes announced by the government.

— The writer is President, CREDAI Bengaluru.