No Rental Agreement? How Tenants Can Protect Their Security Deposit and Rights in India

Priya Verma, a software professional working in Pune, started paying rent for a 2BHK flat in the Baner area from around early November 2024. The monthly rent was Rs. 34,000, and she had paid a security deposit of Rs. 65,000 at the time of moving in. Her landlord, an older woman residing in the same building, had verbally agreed to execute a proper rent agreement but kept postponing it week after week. When a draft was finally shared, Priya noticed something alarming — the deposit amount had been recorded as Rs. 2,50,000 instead of the actual Rs. 65,000. She refused to sign.

No signed agreement. No landlord ID. Just a pile of UPI payment receipts and courier delivery records as proof she'd ever lived there. She tried approaching a general civil practitioner in her locality, but the advice she received was vague and left her more confused than before. A colleague referred her to Advocate Sudhir Rao's office. The approach shifted entirely from there. Specific strategies were put in place — a formal legal notice to the landlord under the Transfer of Property Act, documentation of all payment trails, and a draft agreement that correctly reflected the actual deposit. Within six weeks, the landlord signed a corrected agreement, and Priya had a clear legal path to vacate safely with her deposit intact.

You can read about this case in detail at https://sudhirrao.com/no-rental-agreement-tenant-security-deposit-protection-india/