The extortionate rental deposits demanded by landlords in parts of India

A Story by Om

The exploitation used by Mumbai homeowners to fleece unnecessary extra funds from helpless tenants

Why is it that despite there being no legal basis for it, virtually all rental property in Mumbai (& Pune + Bangalore) comes with at least Rs.1Lakh deposit (often more)? It is acceptable to ask for 1, perhaps a maximum totalling 2months advance & security deposit but 1Lakh? Even consulting legal advice results in the brush off - everyone else is getting along with the albeit wrong culture, so why should we bother abolishing it & bringing about a revolution? Online portals such as Housing.com who are encouraging this practice by openly advertising suchlike should think twice. The rent control laws enlisted in the following article (link below) should be followed in practise. Any landowner asking for such high deposits (unless on a mutual deposit only agreement) should be reported to the police & taken action against. They should all be ashamed of themselves by retaining someone else's hard earned or borrowed money. To top it all, having no conscience by depositing it in a high interest accounts to earn some extra money. It is daylight robbery! So what if Mumbai is considered a safer place for women to live? It certainly charges for it! It is impossible for a tenant to run into so much debt by which time they would have already vacated the premises...if a bill is unpaid or some damage to the property has occurred. Worst of all, there are many instances whereby the tenants struggle to get their full deposit back even if duly deserved. I say that if you've already paid so much, refrain from paying the rent until your deposit is equal to 2months. If a significant proportion of tenants started doing this, the culture would change for sure...

http://m.firstpost.com/politics/rs-1-lakh-security-deposit-illegal-landlords-can-take-one-months-rent-advance-rules-court-2392486.html As an analogy, if everyone began smoking, would you copy them just to get along? No. So how is doing this any different? Being an accessory to an illegal act by accepting suchlike is just as bad as being the culprit.This doesn't even happen in more costly cities such as London, so why here in India then, which ironically is still ranked as being the cheapest place to live in the world?! Evidently not so...if one can afford to part with that much money, well why not save up for your own house or try applying for a loan? Why do greedy landowners deserve your money? The rental market will collapse & people will stop buying property for investment or rental income purposes! Serves them right for doing so..."The Model Tenancy Act" is still not respected