How to find a flat in India?
Hunting for a flat in Delhi is not always an easy thing. It requires time, patience and good tips!
First of all, you have to define the areas where you want to live. Delhi is a big city and offers thousands of flats, so you don’t want to loose your time on visiting too many.
Then, if you don’t have a budget for brokers (real estate agents) you can hunt for an appartment/room and add a post on these groups and websites:
- Flat and Flatmates (Delhi Chapter): www.facebook.com/groups/172025699544799
- Yuninet:
Yahoo groups avoid strange requests of Facebook (specially if you are a girl)
- Expat Info Delhi: www.facebook.com/groups/expatinfonewdelhi
- United homes and mates: www.facebook.com/groups/unitedhomes
- Delhi Expat Club: www.delhiexpatclub.com
- Delhi Friends: www.facebook.com/groups/354595251217601
- Delhi Accueil: www.delhi-accueil.com/ (French only)
If you want to find your own flat, we recommend you these brokers:
- R – Real Estate : rahulsatrawla84@gmail.com / 9811909612
- Sid Estates : www.facebook.com/SidEstatesDelhi/
Tips to make sure you choose the good flat:
- Ask about the duration of contract
- Ask if there will be an increase of the rent if you renew the contract (usually 10% a year)
- Ask if you have to pay the water and/or electricity and how you will get the bills, make sure that the meters are separated and ask the bills from the previous year to anticipate your consumption (it can be very high in summers).
- Ask if the AC are ready to be installed or if you need to put the cables (inside wall) by yourself (plan an extra budget in that case)
- Be sure that the landlords agree that you invite friends sometimes
- Check that all the electricity system and water utilities work properly
- Check how the water is working. You might have to wake up early to switch on a pomp
- Prefer a flat where the landlords do not leave downstairs
- Ground floor flat are cooler in Summer. Rents are cheaper on last floor.