How much rent can you afford?

The internet has one answer for this: spend 30% of your income on rent. It’s a decent starting point and a genuinely bad finish line — especially in a country where the rent itself is only half the number that hits your account.

7 MIN READ

BEGINNERS VAULT / ज्ञान

WRITTEN FOR: THE FIRST FLAT HUNT → THE LEASE RENEWAL

Every house-hunting conversation in India eventually arrives at the same borrowed rule: don’t spend more than 30% of your income on rent. It’s easy to repeat and satisfying to apply — punch in your salary, move the decimal, done. The trouble is that this number was never built for how renting actually works here. It doesn’t account for a security deposit that can run into ten months of rent in some cities, a broker’s fee that disappears the day you sign, or the maintenance charge that shows up quietly from month two onward. The 30% rule tells you what the rent should be. It says nothing about what renting actually costs.

Rent isn’t a single number in India — it’s a number plus a deposit plus a brokerage plus whatever “maintenance” turns out to mean this year. Budgeting around the headline rent alone is how people end up “affording” a flat on paper and feeling broke the month they move in.

Here’s how to actually work out a number that survives contact with a real lease.

Where the 30% rule comes from — and where it breaks

01 — IT WAS BUILT FOR A DIFFERENT COST STRUCTURE

The rule assumes rent is the whole housing cost

The 30% guideline originated in housing economics where rent (or a mortgage payment) genuinely was the primary recurring housing cost, with insurance and taxes as minor additions. Transplant that straight onto an Indian lease — where a refundable deposit alone might equal several months of rent, locked away and earning nothing — and the rule stops describing your real cash outflow. It’s a useful anchor, not a complete answer.

02 — IT IGNORES EXISTING DEBT ENTIRELY

30% of what’s left, not 30% of what you earn

Someone with a ₹12,000 monthly EMI has a very different real capacity than someone with none, even at identical salaries — but the 30% rule doesn’t ask about EMIs, credit card minimums, or loan repayments at all. Applying it to gross income instead of income after existing obligations is the single most common way people overcommit on rent without realising it until the first EMI-plus-rent month arrives.

03 — IT TREATS ALL CITIES AS IDENTICAL

A ₹20,000 rent means something different in Pune and Mumbai

30% of your income sets an amount, but it says nothing about what that amount actually buys, or what else the city expects you to put down alongside it. A number that’s comfortable in a tier-2 city can mean a much longer commute or a much smaller flat in a metro — the percentage stays the same, but the lived experience of it doesn’t.

What Indian leases add that the rule doesn’t see

01 — THE SECURITY DEPOSIT VARIES WILDLY BY CITY

From 2 months to 10, depending on where you’re standing

In Mumbai, Delhi-NCR, and Pune, deposits typically run 2–3 months’ rent. In Bengaluru and much of Karnataka, 10 months’ rent as a refundable deposit is still common practice. That’s not a monthly cost, but it’s a large sum you need available upfront and won’t see again until you vacate — and it changes what you can realistically afford to set aside for the rent itself in the months right after moving in.

02 — BROKERAGE IS A ONE-TIME TAX ON MOVING

Usually one month’s rent, gone on day one

Most metro rentals go through a broker, and the standard fee is one month’s rent, paid once, non-negotiable in most markets. It doesn’t recur, but if you’re calculating “can I afford this move” rather than just “can I afford this rent,” it belongs in the number — especially if you’re also paying a deposit and shifting costs in the same month.

03 — MAINTENANCE CAN QUIETLY BECOME A SECOND RENT LINE

The charge that isn’t always in the listing price

Apartment maintenance charges, sometimes included in the quoted rent and sometimes billed separately by the society, can add anywhere from a few hundred to several thousand rupees a month depending on the building’s amenities. Always confirm whether the number you were quoted includes this — a rent that looks 10% cheaper than another listing can end up costing more once maintenance is added back in.

Calculate your actual number

Using the number without guessing

(Calculator widget — see the accompanying HTML file to embed this directly into the post.)

Once you have a realistic monthly figure, the rest is about not letting a single attractive listing talk you out of it.

1. Calculate your number before you start viewing flats, not after you’ve already liked one — it’s much harder to be objective once you’re emotionally attached to a place.
2. Ask about the deposit and brokerage structure on the first call, not after you’ve decided you want the flat — cities and even individual landlords vary enough that assuming is risky.
3. Confirm in writing whether maintenance is included in the quoted rent, and get the actual society maintenance amount if it isn’t.
4. Keep your deposit money in a separate, easily accessible account rather than folded into general savings — it needs to be ready in full, on short notice, without disrupting anything else.
5. Revisit your number every time your income or EMI situation changes — a rent that was comfortable a year ago may not be anymore, and the reverse is also worth noticing.

The 30% rule isn’t wrong, it’s just incomplete for how renting actually works in India. The real number is the rent, plus everything the lease quietly assumes you already know to budget for.

_{FROM THE MUDRA JOURNAL — Rooted in India, inspired by the world.}