Why nearly every agreement is 11 months
Under the Registration Act, 1908, a lease of one year or more has to be registered with the sub-registrar, which means stamp duty, registration fees and both parties physically presenting themselves. An agreement of eleven months falls outside that requirement, so it can be executed on stamp paper and notarised instead.
That is the whole reason for the number. It is not a legal maximum, a probation period, or a signal that the landlord expects you to leave in under a year — renewals at the end of eleven months are routine and usually amount to a fresh document with the same terms and a revised rent.
The trade-off is that an unregistered agreement carries less evidentiary weight in court than a registered one. If you are taking a place for several years, or paying a deposit large enough that you would actually litigate to recover it, a registered lease is the stronger instrument and worth the cost.
The clauses that actually matter
Rent, due date and mode of payment. The amount in figures and words, the day it is due, and how it is paid. Insist on bank transfer. A UPI or NEFT trail is the cheapest proof of payment you will ever have, and you will need it for an HRA claim.
Security deposit and the conditions for its return. How much, and — far more important — what can be deducted from it and how many days after handover the balance is returned. An agreement that says the deposit is refundable but never says when is an agreement that lets the landlord decide.
Escalation. Most agreements build in an annual increase, commonly in the region of five to ten percent. The number should be in the document. If it is not, you are negotiating from scratch every renewal.
Lock-in and notice period. Lock-in is the minimum you must stay; notice is how much warning either side must give. They are separate clauses and both are negotiable. Check that notice is symmetrical — an agreement giving the landlord thirty days to evict you but requiring you to give sixty is common and worth objecting to.
Maintenance and repairs. Who pays for what. The usual split is that the tenant handles consumables and minor repairs while the owner covers structural work and major appliances, but this needs to be written down or every leaking tap becomes an argument.
Society charges, utilities and parking. Whether monthly maintenance is included in the rent or billed separately, who pays for water, and whether a parking slot is part of the deal. These are the three most common surprises in the first month.
Stamp duty and registration
Both are set by the state, not by the centre, and both change. Karnataka, Maharashtra, Delhi, Tamil Nadu and Telangana each compute stamp duty on rental instruments differently — some as a slab on the annual rent, some as a percentage of rent plus deposit. Check your state's own stamps and registration department site for the current rate rather than trusting a number in an article, including this one.
Several states now run an e-stamping and online registration flow that removes the trip to the sub-registrar entirely. Where it exists it is faster and leaves you with a verifiable document rather than a piece of stamp paper whose serial number nobody can check.
Before you sign
Verify that the person signing is the person who owns the flat. Ask for the sale deed or the latest property tax receipt in their name. If you are dealing with a relative, a caretaker or an agent, ask for a power of attorney — a signature from someone with no title to the property gives you nothing to enforce.
Take dated photographs of the flat on the day you move in: walls, floors, fittings, appliances, and the meter readings. This costs five minutes and is the single most effective thing you can do to protect a deposit, because it converts an argument about condition into a comparison of two sets of photographs.
Get an inventory of everything the landlord is leaving behind, signed by both of you, attached to the agreement.
This guide is general information about renting in India, not legal or tax advice. Stamp duty, registration charges, deposit caps and tax rates are set by individual states and revised regularly — confirm the current position for your state before you act on it.
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