Renting Out Your House in Lahore: A Landlord's Guide to Agreements, Rent and Tax
A landlord guide to letting a house in Lahore: the written agreement, Rent Registrar presentation, police registration, deposit and tax rules, with the eviction process explained.
Shakir Estate TeamUpdated
Renting Out Your House in Lahore: A Landlord's Guide to Agreements, Rent and Tax
Handing over the keys is the last step for a Lahore landlord, not the first. The protection comes before that moment, in three pieces of paperwork: a written tenancy agreement, its presentation to the Rent Registrar, and police registration of the tenant. Skip any of them and a later dispute gets harder, slower and more expensive, even when the landlord is in the right.
Reviewed by Shakir Estate. Last updated: 28 October 2026. This guide is general information, not legal or tax advice. For a contested tenancy or a large portfolio, get a lawyer or tax adviser to look at your own documents.
The short version
A landlord may not let a house in Punjab except through a written tenancy agreement, and must present that agreement to the Rent Registrar. That is Section 5 of the Punjab Rented Premises Act 2009.
Police registration under the Punjab Information of Temporary Residents Act 2015 is a shared duty, and the Act gives 15 days from possession. Prudent landlords file within a day or two.
The 2009 Act sets no rent increase percentage. Whatever increase you want must be written into the agreement.
Tax deducted from rent under Section 155 is an adjustable credit against the landlord's final tax, not the final bill itself.
There is no self help eviction. Eviction runs through the Rent Tribunal, and only on a ground listed in Section 15.
Three steps before handing over keys
Start with the agreement itself. Section 5 says a landlord shall not let out a premises to a tenant except by a tenancy agreement, and the landlord shall present it before the Rent Registrar. The Registrar enters the particulars in a register, affixes an official seal, keeps a copy and returns the original to the landlord. Any later agreement between the same parties about the same premises must be presented in the same way. A certified copy of the agreement is proof of the landlord and tenant relationship, so keep one safe and give one to the tenant, as Section 12 requires.
Next comes police registration, which is a different filing from the Rent Registrar step. Doing one does not discharge the other. The police step is covered in detail below.
Then check with your society. Gated societies commonly keep their own tenant record for security, and Bahria Enclave in Islamabad publishes exactly such a tenant registration process. No DHA Lahore or Bahria Town Lahore tenant registration form, fee or deadline was verified for this guide, so check with your own society's security or transfer office before handover rather than assuming the Islamabad form applies in Lahore. Keep society dues and property tax receipts current too. Under Section 14, if a landlord fails to pay a tax, fee or charge on the premises, the concerned authority may direct the tenant to pay it, and the tenant then defrays it from rent.
What the agreement must say
Section 6 lists what a tenancy agreement shall contain, as far as possible: particulars of the landlord and the tenant, a description of the premises, the period of the tenancy, the rate of rent, the rate of enhancement, the due date and mode of payment, the landlord's bank account if rent is paid through a bank, the purpose for which the premises is let, and the amount of advance rent, security or pagri, if any.
That list is the floor, not the whole agreement. A landlord's agreement should also spell out, in plain words, who pays for utilities, society maintenance and property tax, who handles structural repairs and who handles minor repairs, the notice period for ending or not renewing the tenancy, and what happens to the deposit at the end. Sections 12 and 13 both say the landlord's and tenant's duties apply subject to the tenancy agreement, which is why the agreement, rather than custom, decides who fixes what.
Two clauses deserve special care. The first is subletting. Section 11 says a tenant shall not sublet the whole or part of the premises, or transfer or assign a right under the tenancy, without the landlord's prior written consent. Restate that in the agreement so there is no argument later about a verbal permission. The second is permitted use. The tenant must use the premises for the purpose it was let for, and must not make a structural change without prior written consent. A house let for family residence should say so.
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