FlatHunt
What a flat replacement actually is
Updated 20 September 2026
A flat replacement is what happens when one person leaves a shared flat and another takes their place, without the lease ending. The agreement carries on, the rent does not change, the deposit moves between the two tenants, and nobody pays an agent to introduce them.
Why it is cheaper than renting fresh
A new rental in an Indian metro usually costs a month's rent in brokerage, a fresh security deposit of two to ten months depending on the city, and a new agreement with its own registration cost. A replacement avoids all three. The flat already has an agreement, the deposit is already with the owner, and the introduction is between two tenants rather than through a broker.
What changes hands is the outgoing tenant's share of the deposit — from the incoming tenant to the outgoing one, directly. The owner's money stays where it is.
What the owner has to agree to
Most shared-flat agreements name the tenants. Swapping one of them is a change the owner has to accept, and in practice most do: the alternative is an empty room and a tenant asking to break the lease. Some will want a small addendum naming the new person, some will want nothing in writing at all. Ask early rather than on moving day.
If the agreement is in one person's name and the others are informal, there is nothing to amend and the handover is between flatmates entirely.
What to check before you take over a room
- How long is left on the agreement. Taking over four months before it ends means renegotiating in four months.
- What the deposit actually is, and what the outgoing tenant expects back. Get the number from them and from whoever holds the agreement, and make sure the two match before any money moves.
- The all-in monthly cost. Rent is rarely the whole number — maintenance, electricity, water, internet and a cook or cleaner are often split and rarely mentioned in the first message.
- What the room costs to set up. Some flats charge an incoming flatmate a share of furniture and appliances bought by the people already there.
- Who you would be living with, and the house rules that are never written down: food, smoking, guests, and how the flat handles noise.
Where it goes wrong
Almost always in the deposit. The outgoing tenant wants their money on the day they leave; the incoming one wants to have seen the room and met the flatmates first. Agreeing the order of those two things in writing — even a message thread — is the single most useful thing either side can do.
The second is timing. A room free from the 1st and a tenant free from the 15th means somebody pays for two weeks of nothing. It is worth saying your real date early rather than the date you wish you had.
Find a room, or the person who takes yours
FlatHunt is built for exactly this handover, in Bengaluru, Mumbai, Pune, Hyderabad, Delhi NCR, Chennai, Kolkata and Chandigarh.