Notes
( DEPOSITS · 09 JUN 2026 · 5 MIN )

Ten months’ deposit isn’t always ten months’ deposit.

What is negotiable, what is customary in Bengaluru, and what you should never agree to in cash.

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A bench and table, photographed in black and white

A landlord asks for ten months’ rent as a deposit.

That sounds simple. It isn’t.

In Bengaluru the deposit is one of the largest numbers in a rental agreement, and one of the least examined. Rent gets discussed for an hour. The deposit gets a nod.

What matters is not only how much you pay. It is what you are agreeing to pay, when you get it back, and what can be taken out of it before it reaches you.

01

Start with the number

On a ₹1,00,000-a-month home, ten months is ₹10 lakh sitting with someone else for the length of your tenancy.

That is a lot of money to leave undefined.

The amount can be negotiated. So can the number of months, the timing of the payment, and sometimes the structure of the arrangement itself.

A landlord asking for ten months does not make ten months the right number for this home. And “this is what everyone pays” is not a particularly good argument.

02

What is customary

There is no single Bengaluru standard. Deposits move with the neighbourhood, the building, the landlord, the home and the tenant. Premium homes routinely carry larger deposits than conventional rentals, and both are called customary.

But customary does not mean compulsory. The question worth asking is narrower than the custom:

Why this deposit, for this home, on these terms?

If the amount will not move, look hard at everything around it, because that is where the money is actually won or lost:

Is the deposit refundable in full? When exactly is it returned: a date, not “soon after”? Who pays for normal wear and tear? What may be deducted, and on what basis? Is there a written handover condition? Are deductions documented and shown to you? Is the deposit adjusted against the final month, or explicitly not? What happens if the home is sold during your tenancy?

The deposit is not a number. It is a piece of the contract, and it should read like one.

03

What you can actually negotiate

More than most tenants think, and rarely all in one place.

The amount. When it is paid, and in how many parts. The return timeline, in days. The treatment of repairs, damage and wear and tear.

And if the deposit truly will not move, the deal has other lines. Rent. Lock-in. Notice period. Maintenance. Furnishings. Painting. Appliances. Renewal terms.

A good rental negotiation is not about winning one line item. It is about getting the whole agreement into a shape that makes sense to live inside for two years.

04

And then there is cash

This is where we draw a hard line.

A deposit of this size should not disappear into a cash handover backed by a WhatsApp message saying “received”.

A proper rental agreement. The deposit amount recorded in it. A clear payment trail through a bank. The landlord’s written acknowledgement. The terms governing its return, in writing.
IF YOU HEAR THIS “Don’t worry, we’ll sort the paperwork later.” Later is after your money has moved. There is no version of this that improves once the deposit is paid.
SAY THIS INSTEAD “Happy to transfer once the agreement records the amount and the return terms.” A landlord running a straight tenancy has no reason to refuse. The ones who hesitate have told you something.

The problem is not the cash itself. The problem is having no clean record of where your money went, or what you are entitled to get back.

( THE TENANT’S REAL QUESTION )

Not whether it’s normal.

“Is ten months normal?” invites a yes, and a yes tells you nothing. The better question is about your money, and it has three parts a landlord can answer on the spot.

THE AMOUNT What it is, and what it is calculated against.
THE RETURN The date it comes back, in days after handover.
THE DEDUCTIONS What may be taken out, who decides, and what you are shown.
ASK IT PLAINLY What am I getting for leaving ₹10 lakh with you, and exactly when does it come back? That question changes the conversation. It is also the one a well-run tenancy answers without flinching.

Renting a home is not only about finding a beautiful apartment. It is about understanding the deal underneath it. The part that decides what the next two years cost you and what you walk away with.

The deposit is the largest single sum in that deal. It deserves more than a nod.

We read the deal before you sign it. Not after the first deduction.
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