How do I get a registered rent agreement when the landlord lives in a different country and can't be present in person while signing the agreement?

Here are the options to get the rent agreement registered if the landlord lives in a different county.

Option 1: Nominee

In a sale deed, the landlord may have nominated the legal heir of the property. A legal heir could be father, son, mother, wife, or children. A legal heir can act as a signatory in rent agreement in the absence of landlord. We have to add a point “nominee” in a rental agreement.

Option 2: Issue power to local guardian

a landlord can issue any one of the following rights to a trusted local guardian.

• Power of attorney (POA)
• Special power of attorney (SPA)
• General power of attorney (GPA)
• Affidavit to sign rent agreement

Power should be limited to managing the property of either screening tenant, signing rent agreement, collection rent & maintenance cost, terminating, doing renovation work, etc. A landlord can customize the terms as needed.

A POA holder can a sign rent agreement on behalf of landlord. We have to add a point POA in rent agreement.

Option 3: Digital signing:

Technology makes our life easy. Through digital signing, fill the gap of geographical and time constraints. Here is the procedure for digital signing.

Step 1: Tenant or a local guardian in India should execute a rent agreement on non- judicial stamp paper. value of Rs. 100/- (stamp value relevant to Karnataka, including Bangalore)

Step 2: Tenant should sign the rent agreement on all pages. A witness has to sign at witness section of agreement (Usually at last page)

Step 3: Scan the rent agreement and email to landlord.

Step 4: Many digital singing websites and applications are available in market. Some are DocuSign, digisign, easy sign, cam scanner are few. Most offer free trial periods, make use of it.

Without taking a printout, landlord can do the digital sign, one witness sign, and email back the signed copy to tenant for tenant reference.

If you are not comfortable using 3rd party website or application. Just simply download the rent agreement from email, print, sign at all pages, one witness sign at witness section, and email back the signed copy to tenant for tenant reference.

Tenant or local guardian in India, can attest digital signed rent agreement from notary public as a true copy.

Option 4: Courier:

This is the traditional method. Time and cost consuming.

Step 1: A tenant or local guardian execute the rent agreement in non-judicial stamp paper. Stamp value of Rs. 100/ (stamp value relevant to Karnataka, including Bangalore)

Step 2: Tenant should sign the rent agreement on all pages. A witness has to sign at the witness section.

Step 3: Tenant or local guardian should courier the agreement to overseas. A courier may cost around Rs. 1.5K through speed post or Rs.2.5K through FedEx. Transit time could be 7 -12 days. (Send a photocopy to landlord before couriering)

Step 4: On the receipt of a courier, landlord should sign the rent agreement at pages. A witness should sign at witness section.

Step 5: Landlord should share the scanned copy to tenant by email. Landlord may retain the original rent agreement or courier back to tenant.

Tenant or local guardian should notarize the rent agreement from notary public.

Option 5: When back to India

Few landlord & tenant may have mutual trust. On trust basis, give rental property possession early and sign rent agreements later when landlord back to India on vacation or important trips to India.

This is not advisable but its sheer luck if a tenant & landlord are decent people.

We should have a rent agreement and transaction in place, on or before taking or handing over the rental premise.

In Karnataka, we provide rental agreement service, our service includes drafting + execution + notary + home deliver in 2 working days. Same day express delivery available. To opt for our service, please write to us pgnproperties@gmail.com or Whatsapp to 9742479020.

Thank you for reading…