Numerous incidents have grabbed headlines that have proved that renting an apartment in Bengaluru is a huge task. In areas like HSR Layout, Indiranagar, Whitefield and Bellandur, landlords are VERY choosy when it comes to tenants. They won’t settle for less. They want the right ‘pedigree’. I know it sounds absurd, but it is how it is.
Nowadays, landlords are looking at the LinkedIn profiles of prospective tenants. They prefer renting their apartment to people who have graduated from premium institutes and work for top companies. If they are owners of successful startups – even better! The process of choosing a tenant includes a pre-interview, a video interview, looking through social media accounts, official documents and what not! Here’s an example.
A guy named Neeraj Menta, an entrepreneur working on his startup, took to Twitter to narrate how he was looking for an apartment in Bengaluru’s HSR Layout and one particular landlord did a thorough background check, looked through his and his wife’s LinkedIn accounts, asked about his startup, its investments, and even then wasn’t convinced.
My tenant interview was longer and more grueling than my Seed round pitch. I recently started househunting in Bangalore and one owner wanted to interview me before saying yes. A 🧵 of all the questions #bangalorehousehunt @peakbengaluru
— Neeraj Menta (@neerajmnt) July 12, 2023
Pre-interview – we had to send out a small list of data points about our background along with my wife and my LinkedIn profiles through the broker. Then once we got shortlisted the broker wanted to set up a call.
— Neeraj Menta (@neerajmnt) July 12, 2023
He seemed more interested in Neeraj’s startup than he was on the tenants.
Interview – he asked me detailed questions about my background, family size, etc., then moved to my startup. He asked me questions about the business model, burn rate, last-round investors, etc (he had already checked Crunchbase and pulled all the data)
— Neeraj Menta (@neerajmnt) July 12, 2023
The landlord became hesitant after Neeraj mentioned that his wife would be paying the rent and when he checked her LinkedIn profile, he found that her latest job role wasn’t updated on the platform. He then mentioned that he preferred renting out his flat to “high-pedigree folks”.
He also wanted to ensure we had enough runway to continue paying rent! I said my wife pays rent and he then moved to her LinkedIn profile which wasn’t updated with the latest role. Then mentioned that he preferred to give his flat to high-pedigree folks.
— Neeraj Menta (@neerajmnt) July 12, 2023
He also advised Neeraj on how to carefully run his business!
He then proceeded to advise me on how to be careful in running a business and ensure good unit economics and a sound operating model. He was well-meaning and said reasonable things, but I was surprised at how long the conversation went.
— Neeraj Menta (@neerajmnt) July 12, 2023
And after all this, he said that he will come back to me in a day or two after having calls with a few other candidates who were interested to take the house 🙂
My wife thought I was in a fundraising pitch and asked how it went – I said “It went well, fingers crossed” 🤞😀😆— Neeraj Menta (@neerajmnt) July 12, 2023
People online were shocked on learning about this incident. While some shared similar experiences, others couldn’t fathom why some landlords have such meticulous tenant-choosing processes.
Here’s how some of them reacted:
The owner of the house I’m renting in Vizag wanted our bank statements and salary slips! He even wanted any company ID and the documents should be sent via the company email id. It’s when I put my foot down and didn’t budge to share the information is when they settled.
— Enid Judith Dsouza (@enidjdsouza) July 13, 2023
Fr??😂😂
You went through all this simply because you wanted to rent a home 😂
Saw this just when I thought I’ve had a hard laugh today 😂
— Mohak Agarwal (@mohakagr) July 13, 2023
Shark Tank, Landlord edition!!
— Raj (@TheGreat_Gandhi) July 13, 2023
Why so many unnecessary formalities tbh? I understand the part that he doesn’t want a default still asking about all the details of startup is unnecessary imo.
— Mohnish Sabharwal (@mhnsh999) July 14, 2023
Shouldn’t you be rejecting the landlord after the unnecessary questioning?
— Sagar Lele (@sagar_lele) July 13, 2023
What a gruelling experience house-hunting must be!