Flat / Apartment Rent Agreement

A flat or apartment rent agreement is the specific form of a residential rent contract adapted for shared multi-unit buildings, where the tenant rents only one unit inside a building governed by a body of owners or a management committee. Compared with a plain house rent agreement, it adds a few flat-specific dimensions: the monthly service / maintenance charge (bhabon service charge), rules on lift usage, parking allocation, common-area behaviour, and coordination with the flat-owners' association's own bye-laws. Getting these written down clearly prevents the two most frequent disputes in Bangladeshi apartment life: who owes the service charge when it goes up, and what the tenant can and cannot do to the unit's fixtures.

Stamp & registrationSame rule as a general house rent contract: Tk. 300 non-judicial stamp for terms up to one year, compulsory Registration-Act registration for longer terms. If the building's flat-owners' association has its own tenancy-approval process, complete it before signing — some associations require a copy of the signed agreement and the tenant's police-verification form.

What this agreement typically contains

Landlord (flat owner) and tenant identity details
Full flat address including building name, flat number, floor
Base monthly rent + monthly service / maintenance charge (broken out separately)
Security deposit and refund conditions
Term, notice period, renewal terms
Parking allocation (car / bike spot number, if any)
Lift usage and common-area rules
Utility responsibility (electricity, gas, water, internet)
Reference to the flat-owners' association bye-laws the tenant must follow
Restrictions on structural changes / drilling / painting
Signatures of both parties and witnesses

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Frequently asked questions

Who pays the flat service charge — the owner or the tenant?: It's negotiable and must be written into the agreement. Common practice in Dhaka and Chittagong is that the tenant pays the day-to-day service charge (security, cleaning, lift electricity), while the owner pays capital-expense contributions (major repairs, reserve fund top-ups). If the agreement is silent, disputes almost always arise when the service charge increases — so specify a base amount, who bears any future increase, and whether the increase needs the tenant's consent.
Can the flat-owners association evict a tenant?: No — only the flat owner (landlord) has the legal right to evict the tenant, and only through the process set out in the Premises Rent Control Act, 1991 and the rent agreement. The association can complain to the owner about a rule-breaking tenant, and the agreement should give the owner a corresponding right to terminate on repeated breach of the association's bye-laws, but the association itself is not a party to the tenancy.

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What this agreement typically contains

Landlord (flat owner) and tenant identity details

Full flat address including building name, flat number, floor

Base monthly rent + monthly service / maintenance charge (broken out separately)

Security deposit and refund conditions

Term, notice period, renewal terms

Parking allocation (car / bike spot number, if any)

Lift usage and common-area rules

Utility responsibility (electricity, gas, water, internet)

Reference to the flat-owners' association bye-laws the tenant must follow

Restrictions on structural changes / drilling / painting

Signatures of both parties and witnesses

Frequently asked questions

Who pays the flat service charge — the owner or the tenant?

It's negotiable and must be written into the agreement. Common practice in Dhaka and Chittagong is that the tenant pays the day-to-day service charge (security, cleaning, lift electricity), while the owner pays capital-expense contributions (major repairs, reserve fund top-ups). If the agreement is silent, disputes almost always arise when the service charge increases — so specify a base amount, who bears any future increase, and whether the increase needs the tenant's consent.

Can the flat-owners association evict a tenant?

No — only the flat owner (landlord) has the legal right to evict the tenant, and only through the process set out in the Premises Rent Control Act, 1991 and the rent agreement. The association can complain to the owner about a rule-breaking tenant, and the agreement should give the owner a corresponding right to terminate on repeated breach of the association's bye-laws, but the association itself is not a party to the tenancy.