'Want a home for a few days only'

It is often the case in metropolitan cities nowadays, that you will be required to move from house to house for various reasons.

You may be required to stay in a particular city only for a few months — either for a job, internship, a small project, or even for personal reasons. The truth of the matter is, finding accommodation for such a short period is quite troublesome. You either have to be at the mercy of a broker, or have to compromise on living conditions. But it needn’t be so. This trend seems to be slowly changing, as booking temporary homes is starting to become commonplace.

One portal that enables such processes is RentMyStay. Pegged as the only platform that allows one to book a temporary home while travelling, during work deputations, family visits, medical tourism, sales visit, ITeS etc, RentMyStay is an online portal that promises to make the cumbersome process of renting a home easy.

One of the salient points of this portal is that it allows tenants to move across any of the flats within the network without lease breakage. The founders say that in their setup, tenants can also co-ordinate the range of repairs and maintenance services from electrical to painting, plumbing to carpentry etc using the platform.

In a chat with Deccan Herald, its founders Rakesh Kamble & Kiran N talk about the renting industry in Bengaluru, trends, the need for such facilities and more. Excerpts:

You have chosen eight areas in Bengaluru for your operations. Is there a specific reason for that?

We have flats all across Bengaluru, but majorly in HSR Layout, BTM Layout, Koramangala, Whitefield, Indiranagar, Marathahalli etc. We chose these areas based on the high demand from the clients during our initial days. The chosen markets are very good residential areas of Benglauru and are thriving well, with good residential requirements.

How’s the market for the rental industry in Bengaluru faring today?

High demand has been observed in the mid-segment residential properties. Continued demand from the IT/ITeS sector employees kept upward pressure on rentals in almost all the micro-markets, which attracted significant interest from buyers.

What’s your clientele like?

Our clientele is a mixture of young professionals and families. In short-term rentals, it is mostly professionals on their business travel who look for a place which feels like home, rather than staying at a hotel.

What kind of homes are most popular right now?
We serve long-term rentals as well as short-term, and one-BHK flats are most popular among short-term rentals and two-BHK, three-BHK for the long term.

Usually, what do people look for in such homes?

Facing the broker’s tyranny is something we all wish to evade, especially in
Bengaluru, where the broker’s fees are the same as renting a house. We have
observed that people generally expect ready-to-move-in homes.

Before renting a home...

Here’s a checklist:
Does the outside of the property appear to be in good condition?
Does the property seem secure? Are your preferred amenities and transport links within easy reach?
What are the neighbours like?
Do appliances such as washing machine, refrigerator and TV work? Who takes care of the repairs?
How much is the rent and what other bills you are liable to pay for?
How much of a deposit is required?
Get a copy of the tenancy agreement and make sure you fully understand it.