Mumbai: Police NOC no longer required to rent flats

In a major rule change, commissioner of Mumbai Police Deven Bharti has issued an order making some important changes to the guidelines regarding the information tenants provide to cops. According to a Mid Day report, the decision was taken to prevent crimes and ensure that the police have up-to-date information about tenants living in the city. As per the order, the police no-objection certificate (NOC) is not required for renting flats and houses. The police will issue a barcode that will help tenants get details on the website of the city police. 

According to the order, which was issued on Friday, the citizens can now inform the Mumbai Police police about house rent online or by submitting an application directly to a police station or via registered mail. The police will also send a one-time password (OTP) to the owners* contact number to verify the applications.

The guidelines also make it mandatory that the address of the landlord and the address of the rented property should not be the same, and the landlord and the tenant must ensure that the information provided is true. If the wrong information is given to the police, legal action can be initiated. "The police used to make appeals to citizens to provide information about rented property in a bid to avert crime and ensure we had details of every person living on rent in Mumbai. The rules will be strictly implemented," a cop said. So far, housing societies were forcing tenants to bring police NOC soon after they take a home on rent. The real estate agent or broker would charge Rs300-800 for providing a police NOC.