If you are planning to rent out your apartment to a millennial - anybody between 25 to 35 years, here’s what you should know.
Broadly, what this generation looks for before moving into a rented accommodation is that the landlord should not impose too many restrictions and preferably own a new apartment – grill doors and common bathrooms are passe. Also, the apartment should be close to the workplace and have zero mobile connectivity issues.
CBRE’s Millennial survey - The Youth Barometer has said that with the ever-increasing prices of the residential properties, 68 percent of the Indian millennials not living with their parents choose to rent. This is owing to factors like financial outlay, short-term convenience, practicality in sharing spaces, and a wider choice of properties that are affordable.
Here are some pointers that a millenial looks at before agreeing
1. Proximity to workplace
For a majority of millennials the accommodation should be closer to the place of work. This generation does not have the patience to endure heavy traffic.
Any house closer to a Metro will command a premium, especially for single women. Women are willing to pay a premium for a house that is located at walking distance from the Metro.
2. Old style grill doors are a complete NO. Modern apartments go off the block faster
Millennials prefer newly constructed houses.
Old style construction is passe. Millennials hate grilled doors. Houses with glass shutter doors and balconies rent faster. Bathrooms matter too. They prefer attached baths to common bathrooms.
“Millennials will not go for anything and everything. The house should be a new construction. Houses with grill doors and windows and common bathrooms take a long time to rent,” says Pallav Pandey, CEO & Co-founder Fastfox, a company that has both millennials and married/live-in couples as clients.
Most young people share rented accommodation with friends. Many are live-in partners.
“The families and singletons who come to us have very nuanced preferences. The demand configuration in Gurgaon is that of a 2BHK. It’s either small families or bachelors moving in with their friends. The latter share the rent. The size of a 2 BHK is generally 1200 sq ft to 1500 sq ft and the rent is anything between Rs 15,000 to Rs 25,000 in Gurgaon,” says Pandey.
It could be anything between Rs 5000 to Rs 15,000 in Noida and Ghaziabad.
4. Owner must be liberal, not impose too many restrictions
Millennials tend to reject owners who are too conservative and impose too many restrictions such as not allowing them to get friends over or not approving of non-vegetarian food or imposing a curfew hour to get back home.
They love to rent a house whose owner does not live near by.
Several societies do not allow bachelors and single women. “Bachelors have a different lifestyle, creates dissonance in the otherwise conservative RWA eco system. It’s not only the societies, many individual kothis also do not allow bachelors. But as societies become older and it becomes difficult to rent out units in such societies, many come around to leasing out units to bachelors,” explains Pandey.
This is almost like a societal conflict. On the one hand bachelors want a newer construction but owners of societies do not prefer renting out to them but as societies become older they have no option but to allow bachelors, he says.
Another trend that brokers have seen these days is to do with live-in couples. Many landlords are gradually opening up to the idea of renting out their place to live-in couples. This trend has caught on in Mumbai, Pune and Bengaluru, says Amit Kumar Agarwal is the Co-Founder & CEO of NoBroker.com
Many youngsters also keep pets and prefer that the landlord has no qualms about letting them move in with their pets, says Agarwal.
5. Prefer bank transfers. Advance payment through Paytm is in
Many house owners still prefer to deal in cash and that’s the main reason why most deals, especially those concerning youngsters, don’t go through. Majority of millennials receive house rent allowance and are expected to show rent receipts but the owners may have issues about sharing their PAN cards. Millennials prefer transferring rent through bank transfer.
“We’ve also come across instances wherein the owners charge 5 to 10 percent more for rent receipts and less for accepting rent in cash,” says a broker.