Guys, I need your help here

Say, I rent a flat using a broker and pay 1 months rent as "brokerage fees". The rent agreement is for 11 months. Now, when the rent agreement is about to expire, do I need to pay the "brokerage fees" again for it's renewal? Second, from what I have surveyed, hiking rent by 10% during the renewal seems to be the norm in Maharashtra, but I couldn't find any law stating the same. Can the owners/agents ask for any percentage of hike in the rent? Is there no law which puts some constraints on this? P.S. I stay in Pune, and have been doing some flat hunting for the past 2-3 weeks. That is where I gathered all this info.

This thing varies from location to location some of friends rented a flat in Viman Nagar and they had to pay brokerage at the renewal, but this depend on broker to broker.

do I need to pay the "brokerage fees" again

This is usually the agent's income stream, so they will try to get you to pay. You can try talking to the owner directly to get your agreement renewed by eliminating the middleman.

hiking rent by 10% during the renewal seems to be the norm in Maharashtra

Yes, no law, it is depends on what is agreed upon in your agreement. With the current market, you can push back to get this reduced or nullified.

Use something like nobrokeer to create new agreements.. no point in paying a full month’s brokerage for just document renewal. that’s just scammy.

@refined-football-20364

You can try talking to the owner directly to get your agreement renewed by eliminating the middleman.

I thought of this, but I am unsure if it will work. Usually, the properties are rented to the brokers by the flat owners at a certain price. The brokers then rent these properties to tenants like us for a slightly higher price to earn their profits. If I am going directly to the owner two cases are possible: either the owner agrees or the owner directs me back to the broker. I think the changes of the latter happening are higher. (This is as per my understanding) @rich-shoe-15139

Use something like no broker to create new agreements.

That's a good suggestion, but can I do that? Because I rented the flat from the broker, and then I am renewing it via some other third party. Wouldn't the broker get involved in this because he/she is the "owner" of the flat here.

unless the Broker is more than a broker.. for example, has a power of attorney or some sort of proxy on the flat.. or is a designated caretaker by the flat owners. Brokers can be annoying in Pune. 😐

Rental hikes are typically 10% in Maharashtra residential properties. But don’t let that stop you from negotiating. The legal limit is 4% but there are caveats, unfortunately. There is no entitlement to brokerage. Don’t pay! And tell the broker to mind his own business. And you don’t need a broker for this. In fact, I would strongly recommend this: don’t use a broker to get your agreement done. Use Anulom and get the agreement done at your doorstep; you can also do it async with the landlord. It is convenient, cheaper, transparent, prevents corruption and the default agreement template from the government asks a lot of the right questions. Everything happens digitally (although you have an option of requesting a physical copy). I have used Anulom, since their early days and done probably a dozen rental agreements through them. Even across cities! (PS: They can only do the agreements for Maharashtra, but the parties to the agreement can be anywhere). IMHO brokers should only charge from the landlords (I am one!) and should only do that for provide actual value add (showing the property, advertising and managing leads, negotiating). Any other money paid to brokers is perverse and should not exist.

@quick-judge-84214 If you are in a shared flat with other flatmates, yes, the Agent has more control and is sort of sub letting to you. In case of an individual renter renting the complete flat, you can talk to the owner directly because - 1. Its possible that the agent is taking a cut from the rent received by the owner too, so they would be happy to eliminate the middleman 2. The market is tipped towards rentees now since a lot of people are back home WFHing, so they would likely want to retain you.

Thank you @cold-school-3088 for the detailed response. I appreciate it 🙂

The legal limit is 4% but there are caveats, unfortunately.

Yes, I came across this. I think it's "Maharashtra Rental Act, 1999". However, most of my friends are paying a minimum rent hike of 10%. It's sad that there is no constraint on this.

Regarding re-payment for brokerage, it largely depends on broker you dealt with, whenever I’ve switched apartments, I make sure to negotiate with broker regarding this and make it clear that I’m not willing to pay any annual ransom for renewals. Also, in past 5 years, I’ve been living in same area in Pune so have worked with same broker who’s very friendly and doesn’t give any BS around such repayments. In any case, finding a place without these “dallas” involved is a way to go as they’re real-estate mafias essentially.