Guarded Gates 

BENGALURU:  Lately, a screenshot has been circulating across multiple social media platforms in the city. The screenshot shows a conversation between a person looking to be a tenant and a broker. As the conversation progresses, the broker asks the person the name of his alma mater. Upon reading the name, he tells the possible tenant that his profile does not fit the landlord’s demands. The owner only wants ‘IIT, IIM, CA ISB graduates’, says the broker.

While this case might seem like an anomaly, if you cast your net wider, you will realise that such is not the case. For something as essential as shelter, it is surely quite difficult to get it in Bengaluru. The conditions don’t just stop at the name of the university, even your identity can make or break your case. “When my two friends (all women) and I were hunting for apartments in Koramangala, we came across a place we liked. We had never met the owner; we went there through the broker.

After checking the place out, we informed the broker that we will send our confirmation the next day. We just wanted to discuss it a bit before giving the final word. But overnight, the landlord’s demands changed. The broker told us he wasn’t comfortable giving his apartment to three women but he would if we paid him more. He increased the rent, the security deposit and everything else. All because we were women,” shares Prantika Ghosh, a PR professional in the city.

Ghosh’s case isn’t an isolated one. Aakriti Sehra, who works at a US-based multimedia MNC in Bengaluru, was also at the brunt of a landlord’s unreasonable demand. “During the time when my friend and I were looking for a place to stay, the landlord of one of our preferred apartments bogged us down on religion. He said that he will only give his place to Hindus. But not just that, anyone whoever enters the apartment, even a guest, needs to be Hindu. We rejected that place immediately,” says Sehra.

Anand K, a landlord in the city feels house owners need to be more understanding. “I believe that as market forces often decide the price of the land or lease, landlords need to understand that what they provide is a service. Shelter as a service. Service providers need to have a customer-friendly demeanour. While it’s understandable that a good or bad tenant may make or break things, there is no need to set unreasonable bars for something as critical as a place to stay. That’s like if doctors decide to only provide their service to the affluent or the highly educated. It doesn’t make sense,” says Anand.

Mohammad Rizwan, a city-based broker, feels it is always better to look for a place through a brokerage company or a real-estate search portal. “Tenants and landlords need to meet each other halfway. While it is true that certain landlords have weird demands, not everybody is a good tenant either. Some are too noisy and too chaotic disrupting the atmosphere of the entire place. This leads to altercations between the owners and tenants, which never ends well. But if you go through a company, things are vastly different as they will take care of everything,” concludes Rizwan.