Lockdown rent woes for students living in PGs and rented accommodation

Students are struggling to pay during this phase of lockdown, as landlords insist on payment of rent

As a result of the ongoing lockdown, students living in rented accommodation and PGs are struggling to pay rent. Even though the MHA (Ministry of Home Affairs) has issued an order according to which landlords cannot demand rent from students, workers and migrant labourers for a month.

Students are being asked to pay rent, even for rooms that are presently unoccupied as students are stuck in other places. (Photo: Picture for representational purpose only.)

The order by MHA states, “Where ever the workers, including the migrants, are living in rented accommodation, the landlords of those properties shall not demand payment of rent for the period of one month.”

The order also states, “If any landlord is forcing labourers and students to vacate their premises, they will be liable for action under the Act.”

Still, students are being asked to pay rent, even for rooms that are presently unoccupied as students are stuck in other places.

Mayank Yadav, a student of Delhi University, says, “I have paid the rent for the month of April. I initially requested my landlord to suspend the rent for a month but they did not. Making an issue about this will just get me kicked out from here and I cannot afford this right now. I cannot travel back to my home town in Uttar Pradesh. My parents have been sending money for my rent and expenses, but in this time of crisis, it is difficult for them as well to manage everything on time.”

Chon Beno, a student preparing for UPSC in Delhi, says, “I have been asked to pay the rent for April and I have paid it. Nothing in my PG has changed since the lockdown and it’s the same. We all have been asked for the rent. My roommates might have asked for suspension of rent or reduction in the amount but we have all paid the full amount .”

Many who were not in Delhi during the lockdown are also being asked by their landlords to pay the rent for the unoccupied room.

Surjkanta Saikhom, student of Delhi University’s Shaheed Bhagat Singh College, who is in Manipur presently, says, “Even when I got back home they called me twice a day for the rent. Though I left Delhi on 20th March and I paid the rent on March 28th. None of us are staying there and still we are being hounded to pay the rent.”

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