Singled out: women renting in Chennai

Despite Tamil Nadu having a large women workforce, rental accommodation for single women is still difficult. Caste, religion and age are also a concern. But real estate players are renting out spaces as shared accommodation and co-living operators offer services like housekeeping, Wi-Fi & 24x7 security.

It took three months for Vinay P. from Bengaluru to find a house for rent for his daughter Anu (name changed), studying at a college in Chennai. Anu, who was staying at a hostel, wanted to move into a house along with her friends. When they started looking out, they were turned down by most landlords for two reasons — that they were single and were college students. “We found houses/apartments through classifieds and brokers in Perungudi, Thoraipakkam, Adyar and ECR belt. But many owners said they were not keen to rent out to single girls. After seeing nearly 40 houses, Vinay found one for his daughter.

Despite Tamil Nadu having a large women workforce, rental accommodation for a single woman doesn’t come easy. The understanding is that young single women hang out with friends more and have weekend get-togethers often. It’s harder for college-goers to find a rented accommodation than working women. Some believe that single women who take up houses will not stay long in one place and would vacate at will unlike those with families.

Apart from this, caste and religion are also a concern. And if one is single and aged 35 and above, they are questioned about it.

Krishnamurthy, a real estate broker in T. Nagar, said: “While providing details of vacant houses, landlords always tell us to recommend ‘only families’. We read a lot of negative news about crime on women and by women, and so they don’t want to take a chance.” He noted that if a woman is a college student, a mediaperson, an IT employee, or employed in the salon industry, the chances of finding a house is less.

Harshitha, a techie, said that five years ago when she came to Chennai as a fresher, she was hunting for a house in Tambaram and in vain. “Things haven’t changed even after five years. Landlords still ask our age and marital status, and if we do night shifts.” According to Harshitha, if you’re a Muslim, it’s even more difficult finding a house.

Mahalakshmi, 43 and single, says, “When you are 40 years and above, landlords fear about who would take responsibility if anything untoward happens to you.”

Harsha Koda, co-founder, Federation of OMR Resident Associations, says that property owners are reluctant to allow single women but on legal grounds they cannot do so. He said that some associations are fine when paying guest houses run on the premises rent out rooms to single women; here the responsibility is with the person running it and there is proper monitoring. Koda also said that people are slowly opening up now as they also have children moving out to other cities for work and study.