Bengaluru's Sky-High Rentals Backfire! Landlord Loses Rs. 1 Lakh

Recently, a Bengaluru landlord lost more than Rs. 1 lakh after he refused to reduce the Rs. 23,000 rent for a room in a 3BHK near Whitefield, leaving the property unoccupied for five months. Even while real estate brokers admit that this might be an unusual instance, many Bengaluru landlords are becoming stricter about renting fees in an effort to raise their revenue after the pandemic and capitalize on the rise in demand when workers return to the workplace.

According to experts, landlords should pay more attention to the state of the market. Tenants are being more frugal with their rental costs as layoffs and job market uncertainty affect disposable earnings.

In this instance, the room in an expensive apartment close to Whitefield's eastern IT corridor remained unoccupied for five months after a Bengaluru owner refused to reduce the rent, which was Rs. 23,000 per month, since prospective renters thought it was too exorbitant. The owner thus lost more than Rs. 1 lakh in prospective profits, highlighting the dangers of overcharging in a cutthroat rental market.

Comparisons between Bengaluru and Mumbai have been made in recent years. The IT capital's rental prices are still rising by 23–30% a year. According to several flats in Whitefield and Indiranagar, rental prices increased by 40–50% in the previous year.

According to experts, landlords trying to recover from pandemic losses and rising demand as workers return to work are the main causes of the rental price spike.

A person who occupies one of the rooms in the apartment, shared "Had he priced it around Rs. 20,000, he might have found a tenant. Instead, by keeping the rent too high. How does he expect to recover this? In fact, instead of correcting the rental costs, he is planning to increase the rental for my room from April onwards! The total apartment rent is around Rs. 68,000 per month”.