Anyone who rents an apartment knows how difficult it can be to find a home. It can be very exhausting to choose a neighbourhood near your college or workplace, negotiate with the broker, and understand the landlord’s preferences and requirements. Landlords in Bengaluru appear to be adding strict requirements to screen prospective tenants, making the situation even more difficult.
In an unusual but amusing post, a person named Priyansh Jain claimed that landlords in Bengaluru prefer tenants with degrees only from prestigious institutes such as IIT, IIM, and the Indian School of Business (ISB). The software engineer recently shared screenshots of a conversation with a broker who asked for his background details, adding that the owner was looking for people from “specific backgrounds” on Twitter. The tweet went viral, but it has since been removed.
On Facebook, a broker responded to Jain’s inquiry about a flat by asking for the URL to his LinkedIn profile. His background was sought after by the person who placed the advertisement. Before asking about Jain’s employment and educational background, he clarified that the flat owner was looking for someone with a specific background.
Jain responded to the broker by stating that he was a vegetarian and worked for Atlassian. He was then asked which college he attended. He mentioned Vellore Institute of Technology (VIT). To which the broker replied, “Sorry, your profile does not fit.” Jain inquired what was it that the owner was looking for. To which, the broker replied, “Only IIT, IIM, CA and ISB graduates”.
Jain wrote a post on Twitter and captioned it as, “#Bangalore flat owners, why do you do this?? P.S looking for a single vacancy (preferably vegetarian) near EGL(Indiranagar, Domlur, HAL). Flexible budget based on how good the flat is. Bonus: I can also teach house-party/campfire guitar.”
The tweet amassed a lot of likes and comments. “You parents must have forced you to study hard if you’re in IIT. ‘No, actually I got into IIT to get this apartment I’ve always wanted,” a Twitter user replied.
“Perhaps just a verification step. In other countries it takes employee letter, past landlord reference letters etc,” another said.
