An empty flat between tenants is the only time everything is accessible, nothing has to be worked around, and no one is inconvenienced. It is the cheapest week of the year to do maintenance, and most landlords in Delhi use it only to repaint.
The second thing this window is for is evidence. Nearly every deposit dispute comes down to whether something was already like that, and that is decided by what was recorded before the tenant moved in — not by what either party remembers afterwards.
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In this guide
1. The jobs worth doing while it is empty
- Deep clean before showing it, not after signing. An empty flat cleans faster and cheaper, and it shows considerably better — our move-in cleaning guide covers the job.
- Pest treatment now. Far easier with no furniture and no one to plan around, and it starts the tenancy clean.
- Water tank cleaning if it has been a while. Nobody thinks about it and it feeds everything.
- Service the geyser and the ACs. A geyser that fails in December or an AC that fails in May becomes an urgent call-out at the worst rate, and an unhappy tenant.
- Every tap, flush and drain. Run them all. Small plumbing faults are cheap now and disruptive later — see our small repairs tips.
- Every switch, socket and light. Test each one, and get any warm or loose ones dealt with. Our switch guide covers it.
- Change the main door lock. You do not know how many keys the last tenant made — our lock guide covers this.
- Batch it all into as few visits as you can. On small jobs the visit is most of the bill.
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This costs nothing and it is the single most useful half-hour in the whole process.
- Photograph every room, wide and then close on anything already marked or damaged. Date-stamped, straight off your phone.
- Photograph the meter readings — electricity, water, gas — on handover day, and share them with the tenant then.
- Make an inventory of what is included: geyser, ACs, fans, lights, chimney, curtains, wardrobes, keys. Note the condition of each honestly, including things that are old but working.
- Have the tenant countersign it, or simply send it on WhatsApp and get an acknowledgement. Either is enough.
- Record appliance details — make, model, purchase date, warranty status. It saves an argument about who pays when something fails.
- Keep your own copy of every service bill. Proof of when the geyser was last serviced is proof of the condition it was handed over in.
Watch out the commonest deposit dispute in Delhi is over damage that was already there. Photographs taken before handover end that conversation in seconds.
3. During the tenancy
- Agree who pays for what, in writing, at the start. The usual split is that structural and major appliance repairs sit with the landlord and consumables and minor wear with the tenant — but agree your version explicitly. Our who-pays guide covers the conventions.
- Respond quickly to anything involving water. A leak ignored for a month is a wall, and possibly the neighbour's ceiling. This one is in your own interest.
- Same for anything electrical that is warm or smells. Not a wait-and-see item under any circumstances.
- Keep the AMCs running on the geyser, ACs or RO if you have them, and tell the tenant how to raise a service call.
- Ask about damp after every monsoon. Tenants often do not report a small patch because it seems minor, and it is far cheaper caught early — our seepage guide covers it.
- Keep a shared record of repairs. A running WhatsApp thread works fine and it means nothing is disputed at the end.
4. At the end of the tenancy
- Do the walkthrough together, with the move-in photographs open on your phone. Comparing side by side is quick and it is fair to both of you.
- Distinguish wear from damage. Faded paint after three years is wear; a hole in a door is not. Being reasonable about the first makes you credible about the second.
- Read the meters together and settle the final bills before releasing the deposit.
- Agree deductions with an itemised list, not a round figure. A number with no breakdown is what turns a deduction into a dispute.
- Collect every key, including duplicates, the letterbox and the grille gate — then change the main lock anyway.
- Then start at the top of this page again. The empty week is the cheap week.
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Get free quotes →Frequently asked questions
What should I fix before renting out a flat in Delhi?
Do it while the flat is empty, which is the cheapest week of the year for maintenance. Deep clean before showing rather than after signing, treat for pests, clean the water tank if it has been a while, service the geyser and ACs so they do not fail at the worst moment, test every tap, flush, drain, switch and socket, and change the main door lock. Batch everything into as few visits as possible, since on small jobs the visit is most of the bill.
How do I avoid a security deposit dispute with a tenant?
Document the flat before handover. Photograph every room wide and then close on anything already marked, photograph the meter readings on the day and share them, and make an inventory of what is included with an honest note of each item's condition. Get the tenant to acknowledge it — a WhatsApp message is enough. Nearly every deposit dispute in Delhi is about whether damage was already there, and dated photographs settle that in seconds.
Who pays for repairs in a rented flat, the landlord or the tenant?
The usual convention is that structural repairs and major appliance failures sit with the landlord, while consumables and minor wear sit with the tenant — but the important thing is to agree your version explicitly in writing at the start rather than relying on convention. Whatever you agree, respond quickly to anything involving water or anything electrical that is warm, because both get worse and more expensive, and both are ultimately the owner's loss.
What should I check at the end of a tenancy?
Do the walkthrough together with the move-in photographs open on your phone, so the comparison is side by side and fair to both parties. Distinguish wear from damage — faded paint after three years is wear, a hole in a door is not, and being reasonable about the first makes you credible about the second. Read the meters together, settle final bills before releasing the deposit, itemise any deductions rather than giving a round figure, and collect every key.
How we put this guide together
This guide is compiled from common Delhi NCR service patterns and reviewed by the XpertWorker team. XpertWorker connects you with independent, local professionals — we never charge you a paisa, and each professional sets their own price and quotes you free.