KOCHI: Satheesh, an IT professional, had vacated his two-bedroom apartment at Chittethukara in Kakkanad two years ago after his company asked its employees to avail the work from home (WFH) option following a spike in Covid cases. When he returned to the office recently and met the owner of the house in which he had stayed for three years, the latter demanded 30% more as rent. Suresh had no option but to move to a place five kilometres away.
It is not an isolated case. As companies bring back employees back to office, owners of apartments near Infopark are finding it an opportunity to make more money. “I lived in a rented 2BHK fully furnished house paying Rs 15,000 monthly. When the company gave us the WFH option two years ago, I vacated the house. I returned to office recently, but found the rent of the house was increased to Rs 20,000. The house owner was not ready for any kind of negotiation,” said Satheesh, who had moved to Echamukku with a friend. Vishnu, another IT professional, said the owner of his flat at Edachira increased the rent from Rs 18,000 to Rs 22,000 in the last two years.
“We were allowed to work from home, but we decided to stay back as it was difficult to find a good internet connection in my hometown,” said Vishnu. IT professionals say the rental rates in the city have increased by 30% to 50%. If the rents hovered in the range of Rs 13,000-Rs 17,000 for a 2BHK apartment before the pandemic, it has gone up to Rs 20,000 now. “Nearly 40 3BHK flats in our apartment have been rented out to IT professionals. Though they were staying for a long time, they vacated after WFH came in place. Some of the flats that were available for Rs 16k-20k are available only for Rs 25,000 now,” said Shahi Mannatparambil, who is staying in a flat at Chittethukara.
Aslam, owner of Kochi-based agency A Star Realtors, said the flat owners have increased the rate by 25-40% following the pandemic. “Even those flats with minimum facilities have increased the rate. It is mainly because the IT professionals are back in the city,” he said.
Flat owners said they were forced to increase the rate following a spike in maintenance cost and other expenses. “Most of the flat owners have taken a huge amount of money as bank loan for purchasing the apartments. When Covid hit, many people vacated the flats, putting their owners under pressure,” Consortium of Flats and Villas Owners Association treasurer George Bobby. “Most of the flat owners’ associations have increased the maintenance fee. This might be the reason for the sudden spike in rental rates,” he said.