Next: Tax
HRA: the rent money the taxman leaves alone
The least-of-three formula, why only four cities count as metro, and how rent paid to your parents holds up — if the money and the paperwork really move.
16 min
beginner
Renting in India, decoded
Why agreements run 11 months, how deposit norms differ from Delhi to Bengaluru, and the paper trail that decides whether your deposit comes back at all.
3 lessons · about 17 minutes · written for reading age 13 · last checked 2026-08-11
The agreement, and the 11-month mystery
The agreement settles every argument you could later have, and the odd 11-month length turns out to have a real reason in a law from 1908 sitting behind it.
6 min
Deposits, verification, and moving in
Deposit norms are a city convention rather than a law, and the first day in the flat — camera in hand, metre reading noted — is when the deposit is really won.
6 min
Notice, deposit back, and disputes
Leaving well is a paper exercise: written notice, a joint inspection two weeks early, and a trail so complete the landlord has nothing left to argue with.
5 min
Check yourself
3 questions at the end. Every wrong answer explains itself.
What changed recently
Dated commentary on this topic — a Budget change, a new rule, a scam pattern.
2026-08-11 · 7 min read
Earning in one city, living in another
Remote work can pay at one city's rate while you live on another's cost base. The rent gap is the easy part of the sum and the small part of the decision.
2026-07-13 · 8 min read
The real cost of a PG or a shared flat
A bundled rent hides four or five separate costs, a deposit you may not see again in full, and the price of moving twice a year. Here is how to unbundle it.
Sources
- Registration Act, 1908 — India Code — Legislative Department, Government of India · checked 2026-08-11
- Model Tenancy Act, 2021 — Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs — Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs · checked 2026-08-11
- Delhi Police — citizen services, tenant verification — Delhi Police · checked 2026-08-11