In Delhi (and probably also in some other states / cities), the police authorities have issued guidelines / notifications making it compulsory for the landlords to get full identification details along with photograph, from the tenants, and seek police verification of the tenants, before renting out premises to them. This is mainly due to the security reasons. So, there should be nothing unusual about this if your landlord is asking for KYC details from you.
Even otherwise, usually it is desirable for the landlords to verify the identity details of the tenants whom they don’t know. In fact, the registration of the tenancy agreements in the office of the sub-registrar (which is compulsory if the lease period is more than one year) requires the PAN / Aadhaar numbers of both the tenant and the landlord and also their photographs, fingerprints, etc.
Further, one can understand that you don’t have PAN card as you’re a student, but not having Aadhaar card may be surprising given that already more than 99% of the adult citizens have registered for Aadhaar by now and you are a college student who should not have been in the last 1% of the adult population (when even almost all illiterate people have also got registered for Aadhaar). Aadhaar is being made compulsory for most of the schemes and facilities in India. It is, therefore, advisable that you should register yourself for Aadhaar at the earliest.
For the present, if you do not have Aadhaar and PAN card for taking the room on rent, you may provide copy of the college identity card with photo and it may perhaps be accepted.
Dr. Ashok Dhamija is a New Delhi based Supreme Court Advocate and author of law books. Read more about him by clicking here. List of his Forum Replies. List of his other articles. List of his Quora Answers. List of his YouTube Videos.
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