You’d think that paying the rent regularly and being a ‘decent person’ would be enough to rent a house, anywhere, as it should be. But, nah, we like drama, so we create it.
We go out into the world, hoping to find a home that checks all the boxes. But, it all comes down to one box in the end, which is, the landlord and neighbors (duh), saying ‘yes’. We’ve proof:
1. When a woman was denied a house, because the man living next to it had issues with ‘single women’.
After putting all the effort, even meeting the landlord and zeroing down to a house, a woman was denied to rent it because some man living on the same floor didn’t like it. The man, an advocate, who had his ‘bachelor pad’, raised an issue with a single woman living next to his house. Because, the only way men can be decent human beings is, if women stay away from them, right?
2. When a flat owner only allowed ‘Agarwal and Jain’ tenants.
If you think casteism is an issue of the past, you probably live under a rock. It exists, and we’re probably so used to it by now that we don’t always notice it. So, when a flat owner put up a sign outside his house, blatantly ‘allowing’ only Jain and Agarwal tenants, it felt like ‘just another day’ to @MukeshSunkariya, who wanted a place to call home.
3. When a Muslim woman was denied a rental home because, well, she’s Muslim.
We like to believe that ours is a secular society that lives together in harmony. But that’s more of a movie plot, because real life incidents prove otherwise. Recently, a woman was outright denied a rental house in Bangalore as soon as the owners learned about her name. She was basically told that ‘the problem’ was that she’s Muslim, and the owners didn’t want to rent the property to her because of her religion. 2022, y’all.
4. When a transwoman requested mercy killing after her endless struggle to rent a house.
Rihanna, a resident of Kodagu’s Madikeri, met with the Deputy Commissioner to grant her permission to undergo mercy killing, after finding it extremely hard to sustain a living. She was evicted and denied from rentals, because the neighbors or the owners weren’t ‘comfortable’ with a transwoman renting a house around them. We stoop to a new low, every day.
5. When Laxmi Agarwal, who’s an acid-attack survivor, had to struggle to rent a house.
Laxmi had talked about how people started turning her down, when she was looking for an apartment to rent. She mentioned that some were ‘scared’ of how she looked post the attack, because her face was disfigured, while others didn’t like the fact that she’s an activist. Because we only like taking a stand, as long as it means sharing a post or making a reel out of it.
6. When house hunting felt like a job interview, with a weird questionnaire.
In a best-case scenario, barring casteism, sexism or racism, someone put out a questionnaire for potential tenants. A woman from Bangalore who was looking for a place, shared the list of questions, including — dietary preferences, what her ideal weekend looks like, and for some reason, which FRIENDS character she relates to. Honestly, people ask less questions on matrimonial sites.
Good luck, finding a place.