A Bengaluru resident recently took to social media to flag Bengaluru’s soaring rental costs after a property ad by NoBroker.com showed an independent house listed for a humongous security deposit, which is equal to rent for a year. 

The listing shared by the user was of a 4BHK fully furnished house, spanning around 4,500 sq ft, with a monthly rent of ₹2.3 lakh. The house is located in Bengaluru’s Bennigana Halli area. In his post, the user went on to compare this with the security deposits that homebuyers are required to pay in metros across the world. 

Calling Bengaluru landlords “the greediest in the world,” he wrote: “₹23 lakh security deposit (12 months rent) is OUTRAGEOUS. Meanwhile, deposits in other cities: NYC? 1 month Toronto? 1 month Singapore? 1 month per year of lease SF? 2 months’ Dubai? 5%-10% of annual rent London? 5-6 weeks’.” 

As the post went viral, netizens empathised with the original poster’s plight and said the landlords’ greed in Bengaluru was indeed out of control at this point.

“12 months is little greedy maybe. But mostly it is 5-6 months of rent. Low trust society (unfortunately) and high cost of housing (compared to other cities outside India) is a main reason (sic),” a user wrote. 

“Very greedy. And they will try their level best to cut everything from the deposit when you leave and return pennies,” a second user said. 

“One makes them greedier, if we simply go without negotiating to a sensible price point with them. I feel that’s what happened to most of these stubborn landlords, few people really paid for what they asked, & the market is now disturbed,” a third user said. 

Some others questioned the state government over introducing price controls on movie tickets but not on a necessity like housing. 

“Why are price controls in some places but not others? Government is introducing them for movie tickets, a luxury. Why not add price controls for housing, a necessity?” a user questioned. 

“Unfortunately the gov is not looking into this concern rather creating useless language issue. Out of this deposit definitely there will be some random deductions by landlord which cannot be argued,” yet another user commented.