Getting your rental security deposit back in India

Deposits in India range from one or two months of rent in much of the country to considerably more in some cities, where ten months was for a long time an ordinary ask in Bengaluru. The Model Tenancy Act of 2021 proposes a cap of two months for residential tenancies, but it is a model law that each state must adopt for itself, so whether it applies to you depends entirely on your state. Check before you assume it protects you.

Do this on the day you move in

• Photograph and video every room before you unpack, with the date visible. Include the walls, the floors, the bathroom fittings, the kitchen counter, every appliance, and any existing damage in close up.
• Photograph the meter readings for electricity, water and gas.
• Write a condition inventory listing existing marks and faults, and get the landlord to sign or acknowledge it over email. An email trail is evidence.
• Keep the agreement, and check what it says about the deposit refund window and the notice period.

This takes half an hour and it is the entire ballgame. A dispute about a deposit is a dispute about the condition of a flat on a day that has long passed, and whoever has photographs wins it.

What a landlord can normally deduct

• Rent you genuinely did not pay.
• Utility bills outstanding in your name at the point you leave.
• Damage beyond ordinary wear. A cracked washbasin, a burnt counter, a broken window.
• An agreed and documented cost, such as a repainting charge written into the agreement and accepted by you when you signed.

What they normally cannot

• Ordinary wear. Faded paint, minor scuffs on a wall and worn fittings are the cost of renting a property out, not damage.
• Improvements. Replacing a functioning geyser with a better one is the landlord's investment, not your liability.
• An unstated deduction. If it was not in the agreement and it is not damage, it needs justifying with a bill.
• The deposit as leverage over an unrelated dispute.

On the way out

• Give notice exactly as the agreement requires, in writing, and keep proof of when you sent it.
• Repeat the photography and video on the day you hand back the keys, empty, with meter readings.
• Ask for a joint walkthrough and get the landlord to confirm in writing that the flat has been handed back in acceptable condition.
• Settle and get receipts for every utility bill in your name.
• Ask for any deduction to be itemised with bills. A vague figure is much easier to challenge than a specific one, and a landlord asked to itemise will often reduce it.

If they will not return it

Send a written demand with a clear deadline, referencing the agreement clause and attaching your photographs. Most disputes end here, because the landlord discovers you documented everything. If it does not, your route depends on your state: where the Model Tenancy Act has been adopted there is a Rent Authority to approach, and elsewhere a consumer forum or civil claim is the path. For amounts of a month or two of rent the practical value is usually in the documented demand rather than in litigation, which is why the photographs matter so much.