Tenants to pay property tax if landlord refuses

If your landlord is not paying property tax, you could be the one forced to rummage through your pockets.

If your landlord is not paying property tax, you could be the one forced to rummage through your pockets.

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The south corporation has started sending property tax payment notices to tenants of big commercial establishments such as malls and commercial centres that are not paying taxes.

Such notices will also be issued to tenants of the smaller commercial buildings that dot areas such as Lajpat Nagar, Hauz Khas, Green Park and South Extension.

"Thousands of establishments in the city are not paying taxes. Many of them are being rented out by traders who are earning a lot of revenue through the buildings and so it is only fair that they should pay the taxes as well," said a senior official of the corporation.

According to officials, the Delhi Municipal Act allows the recovery of taxes from tenants if the owners are not paying it. The income tax department has received details of commercial establishments from the building department.

"If the property owner is not paying the tax, the notices are sent to the tenants. Our purpose is to recover taxes that justly belong to us," added the official.

The corporations previously used to calculate tax on these properties by the rateable value method, and owners were required to pay little tax. With the introduction of the unit area method, the tax has increased manifold and so in some cases the owners are not willing to pay the increased taxes.

In 2011, the unified MCD had sent notices to hundreds of tenants living in the city zone that included areas such as Chandni Chowk and Jama Masjid to recover taxes.

According to officials, the house owners in these areas complained about their inability to pay taxes because the tenants that have been living there for decades have been paying very low rents.