'Mom sold all real estate': Bengaluru CEO shares plight of evicting defaulting tenants

With people on the internet terming landlords’ extreme intervention before lending their houses to tenants as ‘peak-Bengaluru moments’, the reality behind the move is justified by a city-based CEO. In one of the harrowing moments, Deepak Shenoy, the founder and CEO of Bengaluru-headquartered financial services, Capital Mind, described a personal experience based on a shared news clipping on X, formerly known as Twitter. The post mentioned the risks associated with real estate. The user captioned the post: “This still happens. Very few people talk about this risk in #realestate.”

Check out the post:

This still happens. Very few people talk about this risk in #realestate. pic.twitter.com/MU4QJHhStO

— Neil Borate (@ActusDei) July 25, 2023

The newspaper highlighted the “end of an ordeal” through a story from The Times of India’s Bengaluru edition about how an elderly man reclaimed his flat from defaulting tenants after a four-year gap. Based on the report, a bounced cheque worth Rs 1 lakh was deposited by the couple who rented the flat in 2019.

The post garnered over 8.7 lakh views.

Sharing the story, Shenoy wrote about a personal setback faced by their family. The CEO described how his mother had to rush to the courthouse for two years for the same. Describing the scenario, he wrote: “To evict a tenant who refused to pay rent after the first month.” Furthermore, it took the Shenoy family two years to get a court order, then three months to actually evict the fraud before the cops were brought in.

As a result of the traumatic experience, his mother decided to sell all real estate and currently lives in the only house she owns. He further added: “Real estate is not something that works for us. More money has been made in the market with far lesser hassle, by us.”

Check out the post:

The post has amassed over 7.6 lakh views.

Check out some of the responses below:

“What are the red flags in your experience if someone wants to rent out their place? Your observations can help people,” asked one user.

What are the red flags in your experience if someone wants to rent out their place? Your observations can help people.

— Pun_Tweets (@Pun_Tweets) July 25, 2023

To which Shenoy replied: “The problem is in the legal system. Mostly people are honest – there will be difficult-to-identify rotten eggs, but if the legal system is fast, no problem renting them.”

The problem is in the legal system. Mostly people are good – there will be difficult-to-identify bad eggs, but if the legal system is fast, no problem renting to them

— Deepak Shenoy (@deepakshenoy) July 25, 2023

Another user, objecting to Shenoy’s perspective said: “Far more money has been made by the majority of Indians in real estate. Very few have made significant equity wealth. Real estate works for most.”

Far more money has been made by majority of Indians in real estate. Very few as a percentage have made significant wealth in equity. Real estate has worked for most

— VaibhavAggarwal,CFA (Follow for Honest Advice) (@Finprofz) July 25, 2023

In response, the CEO said: “Too bad, we made far more in equity. Don’t care about the rest, please fight your case and be happy.”

Too bad, cos we made far more in equity. Don't care about rest, please fight your cases and be happy

— Deepak Shenoy (@deepakshenoy) July 25, 2023

The event came to light after several cases of tenants sharing details of gruelling interviews by landlords before renting their place have come forward.