What is market control?

What is the utility of Rent Control Act in today's time when every thing is available in open market.?

• Rent Control act was probabely brought into force long back when people did not have enough to reside. Why should a tenant have a legal protection as Rent Control Act in current times when inflations are so high and there is no law to protect the elderly whose only source of income is rent. Even today tenants are using rented properties at less than one hundreth of the current prevailing rent and are protected by law??

• Answer:

  Your concern is genuine, and as per media reports (such as those in Economic Times), the government is seriously looking at unlocking real estate value by removing archaic laws such as the one you have mentioned. But I disagree with you on the point that tenants rent properties at 1/100 th of prevailing rent rates. Yes, the Act lays certain controls on the % increase that can be made on the rental value presently collected. But the landlord should be prudent enough to enter into agreements (11-month agreements are commonplace in Chennai) that protect his interests. Alternatively, the landlord may rotate tenants at the end of each agreement validity. Then the controls would not apply.