Policing out-of-towners: Foreigners to provide proof of legal stay, employment before renting property

District authorities also asked to keep record of houses leased.

PESHAWAR:

The Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa government has issued fresh guidelines for renting houses to foreigners, including diplomats and aid workers, in the province.

The guidelines were renewed via a notification sent by the Home and Tribal Affairs Department which stated owners of guesthouses frequented by foreigners should maintain proper records of visitors and submit them regularly to the special branch police.

Any foreigner, prior to hiring or renting property in the province, shall inform the home department and submit all relevant records such as machine readable passports and a letter of employment, added the statement. This applies to employees of local and international non-governmental organisations (NGOs), consulates and embassies.

“The owner of the property or rented place should duly reach a joint agreement (property owner and tenant) on a security bond worth Rs1, 000 which should be duly attested to ensure the rented property would not be used for any activity detrimental to society as well as state,” read the notification.

The home department further directed the Peshawar Development Authority, other district authorities, the excise and taxation department as well as the police to maintain their own record of properties rented to foreigners. The records are supposed to be shared with the home department, federal institutions and the provincial police.

The statement made clear a rented house can only be used by individuals named in the contract; a new contract must be signed in case of a change in occupancy. In such cases, the contract should also be shown to the special branch police and housing authorities.

Deputy Commissioners, by imposing Section 144, may bind property owners to inform the relevant police station about leasing to foreign nationals with legal stay in the province.

The property owners were strictly directed to switch to the new standing operating procedures within three months so all rented property could be regularised. The same notice ordered a joint inspection be carried out after the stipulated period.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 9^th, 2013.