Rent Agreement Format in Kolkata (2026): Clauses, Stamp Duty & Registration

Rent agreements in Kolkata: the essentials

In Kolkata a home is let on a straightforward rent agreement — never a 'Leave & License', which is a Maharashtra-only instrument. The document sits against West Bengal's own framework: the West Bengal Premises Tenancy Act, 1997 governs the landlord–tenant relationship across the state, while the central Registration Act, 1908 and the Indian Stamp Act, 1899 (as applicable to West Bengal) decide when the agreement must be registered and what stamp duty it carries. Getting the label and the governing Act right is the first mark of a credible Kolkata agreement.

Kolkata — the City of Joy and eastern India's largest commercial, education and cultural hub — had a Census 2011 population of about 44.97 lakh (4,496,694) within the Kolkata Municipal Corporation, and considerably more across the metropolitan area spanning Howrah, Salt Lake and the northern suburbs. Rental demand splits between two very different worlds: the planned IT corridor of Salt Lake (Bidhannagar) Sector V and the New Town–Rajarhat belt, which pulls in salaried tech and BPO workers, and the older residential south — Ballygunge, Jadavpur, Tollygunge and Behala — where students around Jadavpur University and long-settled families rent flats in ageing low-rises. A clear, correctly stamped agreement is what protects both sides in either market if a dispute arises.

Clauses every Kolkata rent agreement should contain

• Names, addresses and ID details (PAN/Aadhaar) of the landlord and tenant
• Full description and address of the property, including flat number, floor and locality
• Monthly rent, the due date, and the mode of payment
• Security deposit amount and the exact conditions for its refund
• Tenure (start and end dates), the 11-month term, and renewal/escalation terms
• Maintenance and association charges — who pays what
• Rules on subletting, alterations, and permitted use of the premises
• Notice period for vacating, lock-in period (if any), and grounds for termination
• Signatures of both parties and two witnesses

The 11-month convention in West Bengal

As almost everywhere in India, Kolkata lettings are written for a term of 11 months, and the reason is registration paperwork rather than anything unique to Bengal. Section 17 of the Registration Act, 1908 makes registration at the Sub-Registrar compulsory the moment a lease runs to 12 months or more, which adds a graded stamp duty, a registration fee and a trip to the office.

An 11-month term stops just short of that threshold, so the agreement is fully valid without mandatory registration and is simply renewed when it lapses — which is why 11 months is the default you will be offered across Salt Lake, New Town and south Kolkata alike. (We set out the mechanism in full in our note on why a rent agreement is 11 months and not 12.)

Stamp duty and e-stamping in West Bengal

Your agreement must carry stamp duty — on physical stamp paper of the correct value or, increasingly, as an e-stamp. West Bengal runs stamping and registration through the Directorate of Registration & Stamp Revenue and its e-Nathikaran portal (wbregistration.gov.in), where you can compute the duty and pay online before printing.

West Bengal charges stamp duty on a scale that is tiered by the length of the term: a short 11-month letting attracts only a low, fixed nominal duty, whereas a lease of a year or more is charged as a percentage of the annual rent (and deposit), rising with the duration. Because the slabs depend on your rent, deposit and exact term — and rates change — treat any figure you read elsewhere as indicative only, and confirm the amount on the official e-Nathikaran calculator before you pay. (Our rent-agreement stamp duty by state guide gives the national picture.)

Security deposits in Kolkata

Kolkata is, by national standards, a low-deposit city. Where Bengaluru landlords routinely ask for eight to ten months' rent, the Kolkata norm is far gentler — commonly one to two months' rent, and in older south-Kolkata and north-Kolkata neighbourhoods sometimes just a single month. Deposits firm up a little in the gated New Town and Salt Lake Sector V towers aimed at the IT workforce, but even there they rarely reach the levels common in the southern metros. No rent-control ceiling caps an ordinary market letting, so the figure is whatever the parties agree.

As a worked example, a 2BHK in New Town at ₹16,000 a month would typically carry a deposit of around ₹16,000–₹32,000 (one to two months) — modest enough that spelling out the refund terms matters more than the headline number. Whatever you settle on, write the exact deposit, the permitted deductions, the refund timeline and the condition the flat must be returned in straight into the agreement. That single clause prevents most move-out disputes.

Do you need to register your Kolkata rent agreement?

Stamping and registration do two separate jobs: stamping makes the document legally valid, while registration places it on the government record and gives it the strongest footing if it is ever challenged. In West Bengal the trigger for compulsory registration is the 12-month mark (Section 17 of the Registration Act, 1908), handled through e-Nathikaran and the local Sub-Registrar; an ordinary 11-month Kolkata agreement falls below it and need not be registered.

So for the usual 11-month term, an agreement that is correctly stamped and signed before two witnesses is already valid and enforceable. You can still choose to register — or notarise — it for extra evidentiary weight, which some landlords prefer for higher-value New Town lettings; our guide to notarised vs registered rent agreements explains when that is worth doing.

Sources

West Bengal Premises Tenancy Act, 1997 — the tenancy-law framework governing landlord and tenant relations in West Bengal, including Kolkata. Official text: India Code (indiacode.nic.in).

Registration Act, 1908 — Section 17 (compulsory Sub-Registrar registration of leases of 12 months or more), and Indian Stamp Act, 1899 (as applicable to West Bengal) for stamp duty on a lease. Official text: India Code (indiacode.nic.in).

West Bengal Directorate of Registration & Stamp Revenue — stamp duty, e-stamping and registration via the e-Nathikaran portal (wbregistration.gov.in); stamp duty on a lease is charged on a scale tiered by term, so the exact figure should be confirmed on the official calculator, as rates and slabs change.

Kolkata's Census 2011 population (about 44.97 lakh within the Kolkata Municipal Corporation) — Census of India 2011 (Office of the Registrar General & Census Commissioner).

Kolkata rental micro-markets — the Salt Lake (Bidhannagar) Sector V and New Town–Rajarhat IT/office corridor versus the older south-Kolkata residential belt — as described in commercial real-estate market coverage (e.g. Colliers, 'Transformation of Kolkata Real Estate: The Rise of Sector V and New Town, Rajarhat'). Local rent and deposit figures are typical market ranges for orientation, not official rates.

Create your Kolkata rent agreement

Score99 builds a West Bengal rent agreement for Kolkata with the right clauses, an 11-month term, stamp-duty guidance and witness fields already in place — for ₹249. Print it on stamp paper of the correct value or e-stamp it via e-Nathikaran, sign in front of two witnesses, and register it only if your term reaches 12 months or more.