Women renters face moral policing and broker harassment in Chennai despite growing acceptancePriyanka M, who works in a private firm and recently moved from Tiruvallur, spent 6 months and viewed nearly 60 houses before securing a rental in Egmore. For Shreya P, who relocated from Salem and now lives in T Nagar, the challenge was different—broker calls, moral scrutiny over profession and lifestyle, random enquiries through social media flatmate groups, among others.Though market numbers suggest the city is becoming more accommodating to independent women renters and proptech platforms are trying to keep brokers at bay, the situation is different on the ground. For many house hunters, the search still begins with a checklist of restrictions by house owners rather than rental terms.“We have to return home by 10 pm, no parties, no parents or relatives without prior information,” explained Priyanka. For Shreya, house-hunting itself was stressful: too many broker calls and random enquiries. “To avoid this, many women move on to social media flatmate groups. But there too, there are brokers who take our numbers and hound us,” she explained. “I eventually relied on verified property platforms and community networks to avoid harassment and minimise broker dependence.“Rosy, 48, a single mother who works in a private firm in the city and stays with her daughter, said that brokers and landlords ask too many uncomfortable questions. “I found it hard to get a house near my office. Landlords have the usual set of rules, and brokers want to know very personal things,” she said.S N Srikanth, member, Chennai Real Estate Agents Association, said that moral policing is done by landlords in smaller flats and independent houses. “We find this issue dissipating from multi-storey buildings. There is a change happening,” he said.These experiences sit alongside encouraging data. According to a study by Nobrokercom, women now account for 27% of rental home seekers in Chennai, with queries rising 31% year on year. Demand is concentrated in OMR, Velachery, Adyar and Anna Nagar, largely within the ₹12,000–₹25,000 bracket, close to IT parks, colleges and metro corridors.“There is a clear rental premium in neighbourhoods that offer a combination of metro access, strong social infrastructure, better street lighting, and gated community living. However, this premium cannot be attributed to safety alone. Instead, it reflects an entire ecosystem that includes security, maintenance convenience, community presence, and better landlord acceptance,” said Saurabh Garg, Co-Founder, NoBroker.He said that female tenants in Chennai show a strong preference for gated communities and professionally managed apartment complexes with controlled entry and exit, CCTV surveillance, security personnel, power backup, and organised maintenance support, which reduces day-to-day friction and perceived vulnerability. “As a result, rents in such developments are typically 30–35% higher than nearby standalone buildings or low-rise independent houses,” he added.Landlord behaviour is also shifting. Some owners in larger apartment complexes and gated societies are significantly more open to renting to women tenants. “Another notable trend is the concentration of shared living within organised housing. Over 70% of females sharing occupancies are observed inside large apartments and gated communities. Currently, 2BHK units are preferred by 35%, and the demand now surpassed 1BHKs, which historically led the demand mix. This indicates increasing preference for shared living arrangements, where 2 working professionals or students split rent within organised apartment complexes,” he said.
