A Bengaluru-based actor and entrepreneur has called out his landlady for an exorbitant 50% rent hike and his subsequent eviction from the property. Vasant Marimuthu, founder and CEO of Teestra Lifestyle, took to the social media platform X to complain about the unjustified increase in his rent and his landlady’s “greed”.
Constant rent hikes
Marimuthu claimed that his landlady had been hiking the rent every year beyond the usual 5 to 10%. This year, however, she increased the rent by an exorbitant 50%.
When the Bengaluru-based founder requested a formal rent agreement, the landlady used the pretext of her sister needing the property to evict him. Marimuthu claimed that the landlady gave him only a months’ time to vacate the house where he had been living for the last five years.
“Our landlady has been consistently hiking the rent every tenure (above the normal 5% or 10%) which is the normal – this year when she asked for a 50% hike, I requested her to make a fresh agreement – after a week, she comes back saying she needs the place for her sister moving in and has given us a 30 day notice,” Marimuthu claimed in his X post.
“Greed has no limit,” he wrote, adding that his landlady belongs to a family of doctors — implying that she is financially well-off and comes from a respected profession.
The entrepreneur further explained in the comments section that the house is located in JP Nagar and he had never had any issues with the homeowners in the past.
“There was no issue. Timely rent paid every single month, increased by 20% every 11 months – even now we agreed to pay her expected rent, stressed on an agreement and she flipped,” he claimed.
Post sparks debate
The post sparked a debate about the ethicality of rent hikes.
“You could call it greed but it is honestly someone choosing to use their leverage,” argued one X user in the comments section.
“Fair enough. I fully understand. Leveraging after a commitment is unfair. And 30 days notice in the mid of a tenure is definitely greed,” the founder replied.
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Another X user claimed that the landlady may be well within her rights to evict tenants with 30 days’ notice. “While a 50% hike seems excessive, if the lease permits termination with 30 days’ notice for personal occupation, then the landlady may be acting within the agreement. Unreasonable on the rent hike, but legality and fairness aren’t always the same,” the user said.
“It’s greed, nothing else. Don’t worry, there are many rented houses available. Leave it vacant for a few months. Landlord is the problem. Change the room,” a third user advised.
