Punjab & Sindh Rented Premises Laws

What it is

Tenancy in urban Pakistan is provincial law, and the two main regimes differ in age and philosophy. The Punjab Rented Premises Act, 2009 replaced the Punjab Urban Rent Restriction Ordinance, 1959. It requires tenancies to be created by a written agreement and registered with the Rent Registrar, and it routes disputes to a Rent Tribunal. Its eviction grounds include default in payment of rent, subletting without consent, the landlord's personal requirement, and — a deliberate break from the 1959 regime of open-ended statutory tenancy — expiry of the agreed tenancy period. A tenant who contests an eviction petition is ordinarily directed to deposit tentative rent; failure to deposit is usually fatal to the defence [SECTION NUMBERS — TO BE VERIFIED BY REVIEWING LAWYER].

The Sindh Rented Premises Ordinance, 1979 is an older rent-restriction statute. Disputes go to a Rent Controller. The Controller may fix fair rent under section 8, having regard to construction costs, taxes and rental value in the vicinity. Eviction lies under section 15 on grounds including default, subletting, personal bona fide need and reconstruction. Section 16 requires the tenant to deposit rent during proceedings, on pain of the defence being struck off, and an appeal lies to the District Judge under section 21 [SECTION NUMBERS — TO BE VERIFIED BY REVIEWING LAWYER]. One boundary matters in both provinces: premises in cantonment areas fall outside these laws and under the federal Cantonments Rent Restriction Act, 1963 — a large share of prime Karachi and Lahore real estate sits on cantonment land.

What changed

Neither instrument has been recently overhauled. The Punjab Act has been amended since 2009, including as to the constitution of Rent Tribunals [AMENDMENT HISTORY — TO BE VERIFIED BY REVIEWING LAWYER]. In Sindh, the 1979 Ordinance remains the governing law; proposals to replace it with a modern tenancy statute have circulated without enactment [STATUS OF ANY SINDH REFORM BILL — TO BE VERIFIED BY REVIEWING LAWYER]. The practical movement is in case law, which has stayed strict on procedure: rent-deposit orders are enforced to the letter, and appellate courts rarely rescue a tenant who missed a deposit date. As of mid-2026 both regimes stand in substantially their long-familiar form.

Who is affected

Every landlord and tenant of urban residential or commercial premises in Punjab and Sindh: businesses leasing offices, shops, warehouses and branch premises; banks and retailers with large leased networks; property owners and their heirs; and estate managers handling multi-tenant buildings. Which statute applies — and whether the premises are in a cantonment — determines the forum, the eviction grounds and the timeline, so the question reaches anyone negotiating, enforcing or exiting a lease in either province.

What to do

Put every tenancy in writing and, in Punjab, register the agreement with the Rent Registrar. Diarize the expiry date: in Punjab, expiry of the term is itself a ground of eviction, so renewal must be documented, not assumed. Tenants should pay rent through banking channels and keep proof; on receiving an eviction petition, comply exactly with any rent-deposit order — the deadline is unforgiving. Landlords should plead the precise statutory ground and support personal-need claims with evidence. Before filing anywhere, confirm whether the premises fall within a cantonment, because the wrong forum costs a year.