Important update for those who rent apartments

Renting of houses to strangers prohibited

HERALD NEWS DESK

PANJIM, OCT 24 — In a bid to check terrorist elements infiltrating into Goa, the State administration has prohibited renting or sub-letting of housing property and sale of second hand motorcycles to strangers before their antecedents were verified by the local police, with immediate effect.
The prospective tenants and buyers of the vehicles have to submit their particulars to the local police station house officer for verification and clearance before the transaction, according to the authorities.
The authorities warned that any person contravening this order was liable for punishment and the order shall remain in force for 60 days with retrospective effect from October 19.
http://oheraldo.in/node/19991

Wonder if this means that most people renting, Indian or foreign, have to do this. Because most people rent to strangers, don't they?

From now on anyone who is giving an apartment out on rent has to comply with the new regulations. Failure to do so will result in serious consequences for the landlord and the renter.

Anyone else get the feeling that Goa is making itself an increasingly unattractive place?

I guess that must be what some people want to do...

Yes. Somehow, without having been to goa recently, I get a feeling there is a political backlash of sorts against all outsiders, domestic or foreign. Like most political things, this is probably based on some popular support (I am their leader, I have to follow them!)

Maybe the easy going goans are unhappy at opportunities going to outsiders... I don't know. But they seem to be getting more parochial and jingoistic.

Wonder what all this is doing to property prices there. Sometime back I was interested. Not any more. Awaiting developments.

On the contrary such rules and regulations are in place to make Goa a safe place for tourist from the west.. read on.. this link will tell you why. http://epaper.timesofindia.com/Repos...sh-skin-custom

Have been informed that some of the tourists are still not obeying the new law. Those who choose to knowingly break this law should be aware that there is a jail sentence awaiting them should they be caught.

I believe that this is just the normal requirement that the owner of a house or apartment provide the usual Form C to the police.

Making a big deal of this is really just because it is not being done in all instances thereby allowing potential terrorists or foreigners with expired visas to remain in the shadows.

...wouldn't have thought so. That's got nothing to do with tenancy, and even less to do with vehicle purchase.

Not really. This is a new ordinance which has been promulgated by the District Collector for the tourist season and it requires making a written application to the authorities BEFORE renting the apartment. The authorities can reject the application if they choose to do so and can ask for a photo of the renter. They can also ask the landlord and renter to come to the police station for verification. A regular Form C does not require all this.

What are the consequences for the landlord? IMHO, they should be othe ones who should be punished. How will the tourists be aware of this law?

This doesn't look like it's aimed at tourists, very difficult for tourists, even Indian tourists to blend in to the local population.

India seems to very nervous about extremists based in Pakistan. Waiting for the other shoe to fall after the Mumbai train bombings? There was another thread about a bombing plot in Bangelore not too long ago. What does the government know that it is not telling anyoone? Used to be that people just avoided Kashmir, now all of India is getting a little dicey for visitors. I wonder how much of it is about the fact that violence in Kashmir was successful, people stayed away, and now terrorists see threatening tourist centers as something that produces results that they value? Or is it just extremists going where they think they can find substantial pockets of "the enemy".

Not tenancy, per se, just keeping track of out-of-state individuals living in private accomodation. For most foreign tourists, this will be a minor formality as the regular Form C requires passport and visa information and is generally 'proof' of legitimacy -- perhaps questionable cases might be requested to appear with documents, but for most tourists this law will be only a formality.

As far as vehicle purchase, it has never been possible for a non-resident of the state to legally register a vehicle in Goa. Often purchases are made on the basis of a private transaction which is never registered -- this is what the government is concerned about. While it has always been an innocent enough deal with tourists buying and selling Enfields informally (and never acquiring proper documentation), that 'terrorists' and criminals can purchase vehicles that cannot be traced to an owner is more problematic.

They "nabbed" a couple of terrorists recently who were renting in Margao. This is about immigrants/outsiders coming and renting anonymously. There was an article today about checking up on Lamanis and Kashmiris in Benaulim. Kashmiris, apparently, are agents of Pakistan.

That would almost make sense, there seem to be a lot of out-of-state Indians running businesses in Goa.