PG Rent Agreement Format India (2026) — Free Template

If you run a PG or hostel in India, the single most useful piece of paper you can hand a new tenant is a clear PG rent agreement. Most owners skip it — a verbal “rent is ten thousand, deposit is one month, give one month notice” feels enough at move-in. Then the deposit dispute happens. Or the tenant vanishes mid-month. Or someone moves in a second person you never agreed to. Suddenly there’s nothing in writing, and every argument becomes your word against theirs. This guide gives you a ready PG rent agreement format for India you can copy and use today, plus a plain explanation of what each clause does and why it protects you.

We’ll keep it practical and India-specific: rupees, the stamp-paper reality, lock-in and notice periods that actually match how PGs work, and a complete paying-guest agreement template with fill-in-the-blanks. Copy the template below into Word or Google Docs, replace the placeholders, and you have a workable document in ten minutes.

Why a written PG agreement matters (even for a “paying guest” arrangement)

Owners often assume a PG is too informal for a contract — it’s “just a paying guest,” not a full house on lease. But that informality is exactly the problem. The looser the arrangement, the more room there is for disagreement, and the weaker your position when one happens. A written agreement does three concrete things for you:

• It makes the deposit defensible. When a tenant leaves and disputes a damage deduction, a signed clause listing what you can deduct for is the difference between a clean settlement and a screaming match.
• It pins down notice and exit. “I’m leaving tomorrow” costs you a month of empty-bed rent. A notice clause turns that into a predictable, enforceable window.
• It sets the house rules in advance. Visitor timings, no subletting, who pays for electricity above a cap — written once, agreed once, never re-litigated at 11 PM.

None of this requires a lawyer-grade contract. A clear two-page document that both sides sign beats an elaborate one nobody reads — and it beats no document at all by a mile.

“The agreement you never signed is the deposit you never got back.”

— Field note from PG owners

Stamp paper, e-stamp & registration: the practical India reality

Here’s where owners get nervous, so let’s be honest and hedged about it. The rules around stamping and registering rental documents are set at the state level, and they differ — what’s true in Karnataka may not be true in Maharashtra or Delhi. Treat the following as general orientation, then confirm locally.

• Short-term leases are the PG norm. Rental agreements of less than 12 months (often written as 11-month terms) are extremely common in India, partly because they’re simpler to handle. In many states a sub-12-month leave-and-licence or rental document is not compulsorily registrable the way a longer lease is — but this is exactly the kind of detail that varies by state, so verify it for yours.
• Stamp paper is usually modest for these. In practice, short PG/rental agreements are commonly executed on ₹100–₹500 stamp paper (or the equivalent e-stamp, where your state offers SHCIL/online e-stamping). The exact duty depends on your state’s schedule and sometimes on the rent and term, so don’t treat any single figure as fixed.
• e-Stamp is increasingly the easy route. Many states now let you buy e-stamp paper online or at authorised counters, which removes the hunt for physical stamp paper. Ask a local document writer or lawyer what’s standard in your city.
• Registration is a separate question from stamping. Whether a given agreement must be registered at the sub-registrar depends on state law and the term/type of the document. When in doubt — especially for anything approaching or exceeding 12 months — ask a local lawyer rather than guessing.

The clauses every PG agreement should have

A good PG agreement isn’t long — it’s complete. Missing a single clause (almost always the deposit-deduction or notice clause) is what turns a routine move-out into a dispute. Here’s the full checklist, one line each, so you know what every part is doing:

• Parties. Full legal names and addresses of the owner/operator and the tenant — so it’s unambiguous who agreed to what.
• Property, room & bed. The address and the exact accommodation — which room, which bed, shared or single — so “my space” is defined.
• Term & lock-in. Start date, duration (e.g. 11 months), and any minimum stay/lock-in before which leaving forfeits something.
• Rent: amount, due date & mode. The monthly figure, the day it’s due, and how it’s paid (UPI/bank transfer preferred, with a receipt issued each time).
• Security deposit & deduction rules. How much, and the specific grounds on which you may deduct (damage, unpaid dues, unpaid bills) — the single most dispute-prone clause.
• Notice period. How many days’ notice either side must give before exit — this is what protects you from sudden mid-month vacancies.
• Maintenance, electricity & utilities. What’s included in rent and what’s extra (e.g. electricity above a cap, on actuals).
• House rules & timings. Gate/entry timings, quiet hours, kitchen and common-area rules, smoking/alcohol policy — stated up front, not improvised later.
• Guests & visitors. Visitor timings and the firm rule that no overnight guest or additional occupant moves in without written consent.
• Termination & eviction grounds. What breaches (non-payment, serious rule violations) let you end the arrangement, and the process.
• ID / KYC. The tenant provides a government ID and emergency contact, attached to the agreement — standard, and useful if you ever need it.
• Dispute & jurisdiction. Which city’s courts apply if it ever comes to that — usually your own city, where the property is.

The copy-paste PG rent agreement template (fill in the blanks)

Below is a complete, fill-in-the-blanks paying-guest / PG rental agreement template. Copy everything in the box into a Word or Google Docs file, replace every [placeholder] with your details, delete anything that doesn’t apply, print it on the stamp paper / e-stamp standard in your state, and have both parties sign every page. Keep one signed copy each.

Replace each [placeholder] with your own values — [Owner name], [Tenant name], [₹ rent], [due date], [deposit], [notice period], and the rest. Delete clauses that don’t apply to your PG, and add any house-specific rules you enforce. Then get it reviewed locally before you rely on it.

Common mistakes that cost owners money

Most agreement disputes trace back to the same handful of gaps. Avoid these and you’ll prevent the large majority of move-out fights:

• No deposit-deduction clause. If the agreement doesn’t spell out exactly what you can deduct for, every deduction looks arbitrary to the tenant — and you lose the argument. Clause 4 above is the fix.
• No notice period. Without a written notice window, a tenant can leave overnight and you eat the empty-bed month. Always set a clear notice period (and make rent payable through it).
• Verbal-only arrangements. “We agreed on it” is worth nothing when memories conveniently differ. If it’s not signed, it didn’t happen.
• No KYC on file. No ID, no emergency contact — and if something goes wrong, you have no idea who was actually living in your property.
• One unsigned page. Initialled or signed every page; an unsigned middle page is an easy thing for either side to later dispute.

After it’s signed: store it, then let the rent side run itself

A signed agreement is only useful if you can find it when you need it. The day a tenant moves in, store the signed PG agreement and their KYC document together — not in a WhatsApp chat you’ll never scroll back to. In Aira Nexus Stay, you can keep each tenant’s agreement and ID in their profile (document storage), so the paperwork lives next to the bed, the rent, and the deposit it relates to.

From there, the system handles the part the agreement only describes: it tracks the rent amount and due date from Clause 3, sends the WhatsApp rent reminders so you never have to nag manually, records UPI payments with receipts, and holds the security deposit so you can settle it cleanly against the deduction rules in Clause 4. The agreement sets the terms; the software enforces them month after month.

Want to see what a tightened-up rent process is actually worth on your beds? Run your numbers in the rent-leakage calculator — it takes about 30 seconds and shows you how much rent quietly slips each month when the agreement, reminders, and receipts aren’t working together.