When Mohammad Ayub (name changed) acquired a house on rent at a small township in Peshawar, he did not know it would turn into worst nightmare of his life. Acquiring a tenant acknowledgment receipt (TAR) from the local police has become an uphill task to achieve. The documentation required for getting the said receipt is not an easy job for a person like Mohammad Ayub, who belongs to Abbottabad district and has been doing a job in Peshawar.

He was appointed as accountant in a private institution after which he started residing in Peshawar along with his parents and a younger brother. When he acquired a house on rent he was told by the property dealer and owner of the residence that acquiring the TAR was mandatory under the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Restriction of Rented Building (Security) Act, 2014.

While the law is clear that it is the responsibility of the owner to get the TAR, the owners and property dealers have very conveniently shifted their responsibility to the tenants. The ultimate sufferer under this law is the tenant as the local policer have frequently been raiding residences and asking for the TAR and in case of non-possession of the receipt a tenant is arrested and subsequently fined by the concerned magistrate.

When Mr Ayub started the process, he did not realise how difficult it was to complete the documentation, especially attestation of documents from a gazetted officer.

He said he filled the Tenant Information Form (TIF) and was told by the police that along with the said form he had to submit different documents including copies of the computerised national identity cards of the owner, property dealer, tenant, and two references who know the tenant.

Not only a tenant has to get all these documents attested, but also to verify the copies of the CNICs from Nadra. “Once I have attested the identity cards then why I have to verify it from Nadra and if I have to verify it from Nadra then why I have to attest it,” asks Mr Ayub.

He said that in Peshawar he was not having any acquaintance with a gazetted officer who could attest his documents. He handed over the same to one of his local friends who took more than a week to attest the same as none of his acquaintances were willing to attest the documents of a person whom they did not know.

Finally, when the documents were attested and Mr Ayub went to the Police Assistance Line (PAL), which receives the TIF and other documents and issue the TAR, after a few days, he was told that he should also now bring a copy of CNIC of the officer who had attested his documents. In present security situation, he said, why the said officer would give him a copy of his CNIC when he did not know him (Ayub) and had only attested documents on request of his friend.

This is not only the story, there are hundreds of other tenants who have to pass through the same arduous process while getting the TAR. Rehmani Gul, who was once fined by a magistrate when he was arrested in an early morning raid by the local police last year for not possessing the TAR, said that he was shifting to another residence and he was worried about how to acquire the TAR once again.

“Once you are registered with the local police and they know that you are not a terrorist, then why you have to again acquire the TAR when you shift to another rented house. The police should simply change your address in their data bank,” said Rehmani Gul. He added that in fact this law had turned into a source of harassing tenants.

This law was first introduced as KP Restriction of Rented Building (Security) Ordinance 2014 by the provincial government on Feb 2014. Subsequently, the provincial assembly repealed the said ordinance by enacting the KP Restriction of Rented Building (Security) Act on Mar 19, 2014.

Section 3 of the said Act provides that whenever the landlord, the lessee or the manager, as the case may be, agrees to allow any person other than his legal heirs to occupy his rented building, he shall reduce the agreement in writing on legal document, which shall be signed by him and the tenant. The rent agreement shall be further attested by the notary public.

Section 4 of the Act explains the process of making the TRF. Under the said section the landlord, the lessee or the manager, as the case may be, and the property dealer where the rented building is given through such property dealer, shall provide relevant information in a form to the concerned police station. After being satisfied, the in charge of the police station, shall issue “tenant acknowledgment receipt” to the landlord, the lessee or the manager, as the case may be, on the submission of the requisite information.

The landlord, the lessee or the manager, as the case may be, shall provide one attested copy of the tenant acknowledgement receipt to the tenant.

There is no provision available for conducting midnight or early morning raids on rented residences or hostels. For inspecting a residence, the police should be accompanied by the landlord, the lessee or the manager, as the case may be. Furthermore, under section 6 the in charge of a police station may call for a copy of the TAR and the tenant is having 24 hours’ time to produce the same.

Offences under this law are punishable up to a year of imprisonment or fine or both.

Instead of following these provisions the police have been arresting tenants and not the landlords, lessees or managers. Raids are conducted without accompanying the landlords. Similarly, instead of providing 24 hours to the tenants to provide the TAR they are arrested forthwith in blatant violation of the law.

In Punjab, a different law on the subject was introduced in 2015. That law is called as “Punjab Information of Temporary Residents Act 2015.” Under section 3 of the Act the property dealer, landlord and tenant shall, within 15 days from the time of delivery of possession of the rented premises to the tenant, provide information about the tenant in the prescribed manner to the police through the fastest means of communication.

Offence under this Act carries punishment of imprisonment which may extend to six months and fine which shall not be less than Rs10,000 or more than Rs100,000.

An expert on the law said that unfortunately because of precarious security situation in the country, especially in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, several unusual laws had been passed which had become a source of harassment for ordinary people.

He added that the process of registration of tenants should be made convenient instead of making it a difficult task to accomplish.

Published in Dawn, February 27th, 2017