Frequently asked questions

No. FlatJugaadis not a broker and takes no brokerage or commission on a room, ever — not from you and not from the advertiser. Anyone who contacts you through this platform asking for a “token”, “booking amount” or brokerage before you have seen the place is doing something we ban. Report them.

Searching, listing a room and messaging within the rules is free. There are some optional paid extras — a contact pass for higher-volume outreach, and boosting your own advert. You never have to pay to reply to someone who contacted you.

It varies a great deal by city. Bengaluru and Hyderabad have historically asked anywhere from two to ten months’ rent; Delhi NCR, Pune and Mumbai are more often one to three, with Mumbai leaning higher. Very little of this is fixed by law in most states, so it is negotiable, and a very large deposit is worth pushing back on.

Get the amount, the deductions allowed and the refund timeline written into the agreement before you pay. Pay by UPI or bank transfer, never cash, so there is a record. If you are taking over a room in an existing house rather than dealing with the owner, be clear in writing about who owes your deposit back — the outgoing tenant or the landlord.

You need a written one. The common practice across Indian cities is an eleven-month agreement on stamp paper, because agreements of twelve months or more generally attract registration. Several states now offer online e-stamping and registration, which is cheaper and faster than it used to be.

Eleven months is convention, not protection. What protects you is the document saying the rent, the deposit, the notice period, the lock-in, who pays for which repair, and the annual increase. If you are one of several housemates, make sure your own name is on something — a room-sharing agreement between housemates is worth having even where a head tenant holds the main lease.

Most cities expect the landlord to submit tenant verification to the local police station, often online through the state police portal. It is usually the owner’s duty, not yours, but you will be asked for ID and photographs to complete it.

It is a normal request. What is not normal is anyone asking you to hand over original documents, or to share your Aadhaar number over chat. Give a copy, masked where you can, and only after you have met and seen the place.

Not on this platform. There is no religion, caste, community or region filter in this product — the fields do not exist — and listings are screened for coded phrasing before they go live. “No bachelors” used as a slur, “same community preferred” and “only vegetarians” standing in for caste are all removed, and repeat offenders lose their accounts.

Gender-specific shared houses are the one exception, because that is how a great deal of shared housing in India works. The full policy, including how to report a listing, is on the anti-discrimination page.

Yes. Women-only listings are supported, and they are hidden from male accounts entirely — not merely filtered out of search results. Accounts they are not intended for cannot open, search or message them.

Only if the house says its kitchen is vegetarian, which is a legitimate rule about how a kitchen runs and is stated up front so you know before you enquire. Diet is one of the compatibility questions precisely so it gets settled honestly instead of becoming an argument in month two. What is not allowed is using diet as a proxy for caste or community.

No. Verification is required before anyone can post a listing or send an interest. We check the government-signed file and keep only the outcome — verified or not. We never see or store your Aadhaar number.

No. Phone numbers and exact addresses stay masked until you have both agreed to talk. Interest first, chat second, contact details only if you choose to share them. Nobody can scrape your number off a listing.

The pattern is almost always the same: a flat priced well below the area, an owner who is “out of the country” or “posted elsewhere”, pressure to pay a token today, and a refusal to let you visit. So:

• See the place, in person, before any money moves.
• Never pay a token, booking amount or deposit to hold a room sight-unseen.
• Ask to see ownership proof, or the head tenant’s agreement.
• Keep the conversation in our chat — off-platform, we cannot help you.
• Pay by UPI or bank transfer so there is a trail. Never cash.

Many housing societies require a no-objection certificate or a registration of tenants before you move in, and some restrict things like the number of occupants. Ask early whether the society has conditions, because finding out on moving day is a genuinely expensive surprise. Obtaining the NOC is the owner’s job.

Whatever your agreement says — one month is the common default, two in some cities, and many agreements also carry a lock-in period during which leaving early costs you. Check both numbers before you sign, not when you want to leave. If you are leaving a shared house, tell your housemates as early as you can; they have to find someone.

The house ledger is built for exactly this: rent, electricity, internet, the cook and the cleaner, recorded once and split the way your house has agreed, with UPI settlement recorded against it. Nobody has to keep a mental tally, or be the one who asks.

A flatshare. You are finding people to share a home with, and a room in a real flat — not a paying-guest bed with a warden and a curfew. Some listings are rooms in houses that already have housemates; some are whole flats where a group is forming.

We are not live yet. Bengaluru is first, with Hyderabad, Pune, Mumbai, Delhi NCR, Gurugram, Noida, Chennai, Ahmedabad and Kolkata planned after it. We would rather tell you that than show you an empty search in a city we have not launched in.

Block them — it is instant — and report them. Reporting from a chat brings the messages with it, so you never have to explain twice or send screenshots. Every report reaches a person, and we aim to respond within 24 hours. If you are in immediate danger, call 112 first.

You can delete your account from your profile settings, and you can ask for a copy of your data or its erasure at any time under the Digital Personal Data Protection Act 2023. Write to privacy@flatjugaad.in, and see the privacy policy for what we keep afterwards and for how long.