Comedian seeks netizens’ help as landlord refuses to refund deposit. Then… | Trending

A comedian in Mumbai was asked to vacate his rented flat before the end of the lock-in period. Since Kashyap Swaroop wasn’t feeling safe in the society he was living in, he agreed to leave. The landlord promised to refund him the ₹60,000 deposit once he vacated the place. However, after he handed the keys to the landlord, he stopped responding to his calls and messages. Swaroop first turned to X and sought help from lawyers. He then went to the police to seek help on the matter, and Mumbai Police helped him with the refund. A screenshot of the WhatsApp conversation between the comedian and his landlord. (X/@LowKashWala) “My landlord asked me to vacate my home before termination of the lock-in period. He has yet to refund 60% of my security deposit despite me vacating the house in excellent condition. Are there any lawyers who can help recover the rest? He is avoiding my calls and messages,” wrote X user Kashyap Swaroop on the microblogging platform. Discover the thrill of cricket like never before, exclusively on HT. Explore now! Swaroop provided a detailed account of the incident. Based on the screenshots of the WhatsApp conversation, the landlord committed to paying the security deposit once Swaroop had vacated the premises. He stated that he would issue a cheque after verifying the electricity usage and inspecting the flat. However, after Swaroop vacated the place, the landlord broke the promise, saying, “Please do what you have to do. Thank you.” While tweeting the screenshot of the WhatsApp conversation, Swaroop wrote, “Landlords are on a massive ego trip. Any help would be appreciated.” A few hours later, Swaroop shared an update saying that the Mumbai Police helped him resolve the issue: “Super grateful to @MumbaiPolice for resolving this immediately. I guess there’s still a silver lining to Mumbai.” He added in the comments that the police asked him to come to the police station to share his side of the story. “He immediately insed he’s transferred the deposit. My bank statement showed he didn’t. An hour later, I had it.” He further shared, “Net net, I lost 30k in moving charges, deductions and furnishings that I made in the house. Expecting to incur 15k furnishing the new house now. So yeah, 1.5 month’s rent.” Swaroop’s tweets soon gained traction on social media, receiving numerous likes and comments. Check out how people reacted to these posts:An individual posted, “Same happened with me and most of my friends in Gurgaon. They told me that they’ll return the deposit amount once we vacate, but after multiple calls, they said: ‘Jo karna hai karlo.’ Since the deposit amount is around 10k here for PG so we don’t go to PS but yeah this happened a lot.” “I had the same issue last June. My deposit was 1.4 lakh. Landlord asked to me leave at the end of my lease (15 days to end) as he was returning and needed the place. I vacated on time despite not having another place ready. He didn’t return my deposit for nearly a month,” shared another. A third commented, “Kashyap, I’m facing a similar issue. A prospective landlord is refusing to return a token as we could not come to a consensus on T&Cs. Ego is boundless. I see no recourse other than legal. Legal is time-consuming but necessary; otherwise, it may become a market norm.”