Gurgaon Rent Rules: What Actually Applies in Gurugram

If you have read that Gurgaon now caps security deposits at two months' rent, that you must register your tenancy with a Rent Authority within 60 days, or that a landlord must give 90 days' notice before raising rent — none of that applies in Gurugram.

Those are provisions of the Model Tenancy Act, 2021. It is a model law, not a national one. Housing sits in the State List of the Seventh Schedule, so the Model Act binds nobody until a state notifies its own version, and Haryana has not done so. This page previously described those provisions as Gurgaon's rules. They are not, and this is the correction.

What actually governs a Gurugram tenancy

Three things, in this order:

• Your tenancy agreement. For most modern Gurugram flats this is the whole of the law that applies to your rent, your deposit and your notice period. Whatever the two of you signed is what binds you.
• The Transfer of Property Act, 1882 and the Registration Act, 1908, which decide how a lease is created, stamped and registered.
• The Haryana Urban (Control of Rent and Eviction) Act, 1973 — Haryana's rent control statute — but only for the buildings it actually covers, which is fewer than most people assume.

The ten-year exemption almost nobody mentions

Section 1(3) of the 1973 Act says nothing in it applies to a building for ten years from the date its construction was completed. The Act also does not extend to cantonment areas.

Read that against Gurugram's housing stock and the consequence is large. A tower handed over in 2019 sits outside rent control until 2029. Every under-construction and recently delivered project on Dwarka Expressway, Golf Course Extension Road and across New Gurgaon is outside it. For those flats there is no fair-rent mechanism, no statutory eviction protection under the Act, and no ceiling on what the rent may be increased to — the agreement decides, and nothing else does.

Older stock is different. A DLF Phase 1 or 2 house, a Sushant Lok flat, an Old Gurgaon building — anything comfortably past ten years from completion — does fall under the Act, which brings fair rent and the Act's eviction grounds into play.

So the first question about any Gurugram tenancy is not "what do the rules say", it is how old is this building. The answer changes which regime you are in.

Registration: the 11-month convention, and when it breaks

Section 17(1)(d) of the Registration Act, 1908 makes registration compulsory for a lease from year to year, or for a term exceeding one year. That is the whole reason Indian rent agreements are written for eleven months: an 11-month term falls under the line and needs no registration.

There is no 60-day Rent Authority filing in Haryana. There is no Rent Authority in Haryana at all — that office exists only under the Model Tenancy Act, in states that have notified it.

One trap is worth knowing. A document labelled "11 months" is not automatically an 11-month lease in law. If it reserves rent yearly, or carries a renewal clause that produces a year-to-year effect, it can be compulsorily registrable despite the label — and then it is both unregistered and wrongly stamped. Read what the term and the renewal clause actually say, not what the heading says.

Stamp duty, and an honest note about the rate

Haryana charges stamp duty on a lease against the average annual rent, and sources genuinely disagree on the current slab. What we can see:

• The commonly cited slab for a lease of up to five years is Rs 7.50 for every Rs 500 of average annual rent — that is 1.5%.
• Some sources instead quote 0.5% of total rent for terms over eleven months, and about 3% for a five to ten year term.
• Where the lease carries an escalation clause, the average annual rent used for duty is supposed to account for the escalated amounts across the term.
• Registration, where you choose or are required to register, carries a flat fee commonly quoted at Rs 1,000.

On a Rs 20,000 a month flat, 1.5% of a Rs 2.4 lakh annual rent is Rs 3,600. In everyday practice a great many Gurugram agreements are still executed on a Rs 100 stamp paper, which is a separate matter from what the schedule provides.

Because these figures do not agree, do not budget off this page or any other. Confirm the current slab on the Haryana e-stamping portal or with the sub-registrar before you pay — that is a five-minute check and it is the only authoritative answer.

Security deposit: there is no cap

Haryana sets no statutory ceiling on a residential security deposit. The two-month cap that circulates is, again, a Model Tenancy Act provision that Haryana has not adopted.

What governs your deposit is the agreement. Gurugram practice runs to roughly two to three months for a residential flat and considerably more for commercial space, and premium societies routinely ask for more. None of that is illegal, and none of it is capped.

Which makes the deposit clause the single most important thing in the document. Get all of this in writing: the exact amount, the exact number of days for refund after handover, what may be deducted and what may not, whether painting is charged to you, and whether the deposit earns interest. A deposit dispute in Gurugram is decided on the wording of that clause, because there is no statute standing behind you.

Notice, rent increases and getting the flat back

There is no 90-day statutory notice before a rent rise in Haryana, and no statutory notice period for ending a tenancy outside what the 1973 Act provides for the buildings it covers. For a flat under ten years old, notice is whatever the agreement says — commonly one or two months on either side, and a lock-in of anywhere from three months to a year.

Rent escalation is the same: usually a 5% or 10% annual step written into the agreement, because nothing else fixes it. For a building the 1973 Act does cover, a landlord who wants more than the agreed rent has to go through the Act's fair-rent machinery instead, and the Act's grounds are what govern eviction.

What a tenancy costs beyond the rent

The number on the listing is not the number that leaves your account. Before you agree a rent, budget for all of this:

• Security deposit — two to three months' rent is normal on an unfurnished society flat; furnished and premium stock is routinely asked at three to six. There is no cap, for the reasons set out above.
• Brokerage — customarily one month's rent, and negotiable. On a society flat the broker is often paid by both sides, which is worth asking about before you view.
• Maintenance or CAM — charged by the RWA or the facility manager per sq ft per month, usually on top of rent. Ask for the current rate and whether it is included; on a large flat it can be a fifth of the rent again.
• Electricity — metered on the DHBVN domestic slab, with DG backup billed separately per unit at a higher rate. In a high-rise that leans on backup this is a real monthly line, not a rounding error.
• Move-in charges — many societies levy a one-time, non-refundable move-in fee, and ask for a refundable interior deposit if you are doing any work.
• Police verification — Gurugram Police ask landlords to file tenant verification. It is the landlord's job, but it is your ID that goes on it, so expect to be asked for documents.

One more that catches tenants out: under section 393(1) of the Income-tax Act, 2025 (Section 194-IB until 31 March 2026), an individual or HUF paying more than Rs 50,000 a month must deduct TDS at 2% — down from 5% with effect from 1 October 2024, and unchanged by the new Act. It is deducted once, in the last month of the tenancy or of the tax year, whichever comes first, and paid on Form 141 (Form 26QC until 31 March 2026). On Gurgaon rents that catches far more tenants than expect it.

What to do instead of relying on the "new rules"

1. Establish the building's completion date. Under ten years means contract law and nothing else. Over ten years means the 1973 Act applies too.
2. Read the term and renewal clause, not the heading, to know whether registration is compulsory.
3. Confirm the stamp duty slab with the sub-registrar or the e-stamping portal before paying.
4. Negotiate the deposit clause hard — amount, refund window, deductions, interest — because no statute will do it for you.
5. Pin down escalation, lock-in and notice in writing. For most Gurugram flats these are not defaults you can fall back on; they only exist if you wrote them down.
6. If you pay over Rs 50,000 a month as an individual, check your TDS obligation under section 393(1) (Section 194-IB until 31 March 2026) before it becomes an arrears problem.

The practical detail on documents is in our guide to a registered versus a notarised rent agreement, and if your building does fall under rent control, standard rent and fair rent covers what may legally be charged. For what flats actually rent for across the city, start with flats for rent in Gurgaon.

Frequently asked questions

Does the Model Tenancy Act apply in Gurgaon?

No. Haryana has not notified the Model Tenancy Act, 2021. Housing is a State List subject, so the Model Act has no force in Haryana until the state adopts its own version. The deposit cap, Rent Authority registration and notice provisions attributed to it do not apply in Gurugram.

Is there a security deposit limit in Gurgaon?

No statutory limit. The two-month cap that circulates is a Model Tenancy Act provision Haryana has not adopted. Gurugram practice is roughly two to three months residential and more for commercial, set entirely by the agreement.

Do I have to register my rent agreement in Gurgaon?

Only if the lease runs from year to year or for a term exceeding one year, under Section 17(1)(d) of the Registration Act, 1908. That is why 11-month agreements are standard. There is no 60-day Rent Authority filing requirement in Haryana.

Which law covers a Gurugram tenancy?

Your agreement first, then the Transfer of Property Act, 1882 and the Registration Act, 1908. The Haryana Urban (Control of Rent and Eviction) Act, 1973 applies as well, but only to buildings more than ten years past completion — Section 1(3) exempts a building for its first ten years.

Can my landlord raise the rent by any amount in Gurgaon?

For a building under ten years old, the increase is whatever your agreement permits, because rent control does not reach it. Most Gurugram agreements write in a 5% or 10% annual escalation. For an older building covered by the 1973 Act, a landlord seeking more than the agreed rent has to use the Act's fair-rent process.

What notice period applies in Gurgaon?

Whatever the agreement states — commonly one to two months, often with a lock-in. There is no 90-day statutory notice in Haryana; that figure comes from the Model Tenancy Act.