Moving to Mumbai involves a few rites of passage. You will learn which local train to board and which to let pass. You will discover that "ten minutes from the station" is a statement of faith. And, before any of that, you will rent a flat, which in this city is its own small education.
The rental market here has habits that surprise newcomers: the eleven-month agreement, the sizeable deposit, the broker who expects a month's rent, the police form. None of it is complicated once explained. What follows is the explanation I wish I had been given.
The leave-and-licence agreement
Almost all residential rentals in Mumbai are structured as leave-and-licence agreements rather than tenancies in the older legal sense. Under a licence, the owner permits you to occupy the premises for a fixed period without transferring any interest in the property. Owners prefer it because it avoids the protections that tenants under the old rent control regime enjoyed, which in some cases made it nearly impossible to recover a property.
The typical term is eleven months. You will be told this is the law. It is more accurately a convention, based partly on the fact that agreements of twelve months or more have historically attracted different registration requirements. Longer agreements are possible and increasingly common for stable arrangements. What matters is that the term, the rent, the deposit and any escalation on renewal are written down clearly.
In Maharashtra, leave-and-licence agreements are required to be registered, whatever their length. Registration can be done online through the e-registration service of IGR Maharashtra, often with a service agent who visits both parties to capture biometrics. Stamp duty is payable on the agreement and is calculated on the rent for the whole term plus a notional amount on the deposit. It is a modest sum next to the rent itself, and the practice of who pays it, or whether it is split, varies. Agree this at the start. An unregistered agreement is a problem for both sides if there is ever a dispute, so do not accept a notarised document in its place.
Police verification
Owners in Mumbai are required to provide details of their tenants to the local police. This is usually done online through the Mumbai Police's tenant information service, with the tenant's identity documents and photograph. In practice, the owner or the registration agent handles it, but it is your data and your responsibility too. Ask for confirmation that it has been filed. Some societies will not let you move in without a copy.
Deposits and brokerage
Mumbai deposits are higher than in many Indian cities. Several months' rent is common, and in some neighbourhoods owners ask for considerably more, sometimes in exchange for a lower monthly rent. The deposit is refundable and should be returned when you vacate, minus any agreed deductions for damage beyond normal wear or unpaid dues.
A few precautions help. Pay the deposit by bank transfer, never in cash. Make sure the amount and the refund terms, including the timeline for refund after you hand back the keys, are written into the registered agreement. Photograph and video every room when you move in, including existing damage, and share the files with the owner by email so there is a dated record.
Brokerage, by long custom, is usually one month's rent, paid by the tenant and separately by the owner. Some brokers ask for more, particularly at the higher end, and some for less. It is payable once the deal is done, not for showing you flats. Agree the fee in advance, get a receipt, and ask whether the broker is registered with MahaRERA, which applies to agents dealing in sales of registered projects and is a reasonable signal of professionalism in general.
What to check before you move in
The flat will look different on the day you move in from the day you saw it with the owner's sofa in it. Before signing, and certainly before paying, check:
- Water supply: the hours, whether there is a storage tank, and whether the building buys tanker water in summer.
- Plumbing and seepage, especially on walls shared with bathrooms and on the ceiling of top-floor flats. The monsoon reveals what the dry season hides.
- Electrical points, the meter, and whether the wiring can take an air-conditioner and a geyser without tripping.
- Mobile signal and internet providers available in the building.
- Maintenance charges and who pays them. Usually the owner pays the society maintenance and the tenant pays for electricity, gas and internet, but confirm it.
- Parking, if you need it. A flat does not automatically come with a slot.
- The commute at the time you will actually travel. Try it at 9 am on a weekday before you commit.
The society and its rules
Your contract is with the owner, but your daily life will be governed by the housing society. Many societies require the owner to obtain a no-objection certificate or at least to inform the society before letting to a tenant, and some ask for a copy of the registered agreement and the police intimation. Some charge a non-occupancy fee to the owner. A small number have rules about pets, bachelors or cooking, some of which are more enforceable than others.
Ask the owner to confirm, in writing, that the society has been informed and has no objection. Meet the secretary or the watchman before you move in. A cordial relationship with the society office will save you considerable trouble when you need a plumber, a parcel held or a car parked for a day.
Negotiating without awkwardness
Rents in Mumbai are negotiable, though less so in a tight market. The best leverage is information. Look at several comparable flats in the same building or lane and mention them. Offer something the owner values: a longer lock-in, a slightly higher deposit, a quick move-in, a willingness to handle minor repairs. Ask for things that cost the owner little but matter to you: fresh paint, a repaired geyser, a replaced mattress.
Agree the annual escalation, usually a fixed percentage on renewal, at the start rather than at the end of month eleven. And read the lock-in and notice clauses carefully. A lock-in binds both sides for a period, while the notice period governs how either can end the arrangement afterwards. A friend in Andheri learned this the hard way when a job move came through and the agreement had a lock-in he had not noticed.
Settling in
Renting in Mumbai is expensive and occasionally exasperating, but it is also how most people in this city begin. The paperwork, done properly, protects you as much as the owner. Register the agreement, pay by bank transfer, photograph everything, and keep copies of every document in more than one place.
Then go and find the nearest good vada pav. You are going to need to know where it is.
