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High rising house rent

On average, house rents have increased three-fold over the past decade

SHIMU RANI DAS
High rising house rent
On average, house rents have increased three-fold over the past decade
SHIMU RANI DAS
Many tenants of Dhaka city have recently received notices from their landlords informing them that their rents will go up in the coming months.
House owners claim that they are doing this in view of the reformulation of the holding tax by the Dhaka City Corporation (DCC), which has taken this measure to increase its revenue earning. The holding tax varies depending on the area and location of the house or property.
While landlords and the DCC plan on earning extra money, the tenants are left to bear the brunt of this controversial move. In the nearly four lakh holding tax units
of the city, tenants live in 90 percent of them. The rest belong to owners.
With house rent on the rise through one pretext or the other, the city's middle and lower-middle classes are left struggling to make ends meet with their limited income. In a survey of Consumer Associations of Bangladesh (CAB), it was found that monthly house rent had increased by a staggering 300 percent between 1990 to 2000.
About three quarter of Dhaka's total population live on rented houses. Nearly 65 percent or more of their monthly income is spent on paying the rent.
"As a teacher, I have a small salary. With house rent and the prices of necessary goods
increasing almost every day, I'm finding it exceedingly difficult to pay my rent and also maintain a minimum living standard at the same time," said Arnab Saha of Dhanmondi .
House owners on the other hand are saying that they have been forced to raise rent for the sake of reality.
"Apart from the high price of essentials, the rate for various utility services like water, gas and electricity is always on the up. That's why we are left with no other option," said Faruk Ahmed, a landlord.
House owners have the authority to increase the rent but they are supposed to go by certain rules if they want to do so. Under the House Rent Control
Ordinance (1991)'s article 16(2), rent can be readjusted every two years through an understanding between the owner and the tenant. However most landlords are either unaware of the act or doesn't care to implement it
"The majority of the tenants too have no idea that there is a law about house rent and the owners are taking advantage of this ignorance," said, Kazi Faruk, general secretary of CAB.
"Mostly, people of middle class and lower middle class are the worst hit. They usually don't have houses of their own so they have to live somewhere. But the exorbitant rent is making their Dhaka experience a nightmarish one," added Faruk.