How to screen tenants before you commit

Why the old way doesn't work

For decades, the Indian rental market has worked one of two ways. Either the broker picks for you (and pockets the upside), or you pick from photocopied Aadhaar cards in a shoebox under your desk. Both leave you exposed: the broker has no skin in the game when the tenant defaults, and the shoebox of photocopies is a DPDP Act violation waiting to happen the day a hard drive walks out the door.

The right model was figured out by Avail in the United States almost a decade ago. Landlord lists property → applicants apply → background check is a button on the application → landlord reviews completed applications side by side → picks one → generates the lease. The applicant data lives with the applicant until the moment the landlord commits.

The Legally Rent flow

1. Send an invite. From the property page, click "Send invite", choose a background check level (None / Identity ₹49 / All-in ₹399), and optionally type a cover message. We generate a 14-day magic link.
2. Share the link. WhatsApp, SMS, email, or just paste it on the listing. Whoever has the link can submit one application against it.
3. Applicant fills the form. Name, DOB, phone, email, last 4 digits of their Aadhaar. They can add co-applicants — spouse, roommate, kids — on the same form. No login required.
4. Background check runs. If you requested one, each applicant gets a separate WhatsApp asking them to consent to the specific checks. The report only runs after they tap consent — DPDP Act §6 compliance, baked in.
5. You review side by side. Status chips show who's submitted, whose check is in progress, whose report is ready. Star a finalist, reject the ones who don't make the cut.
6. Promote one to tenant. Click Promote on the finalist's application. All co-applicants on that application become co-tenants on the lease. The agreement gets generated, e-stamped, e-signed.

What this changes economically

Background checks have been priced for one shot — full bundle, ₹399, against one committed tenant. That price made sense in the old "decide first, verify second" model. In the shortlist model, you want a cheap pre-screen across many candidates and a thorough check on the one or two finalists. Identity-only at ₹49 is the shortlist tool: rule out the obvious mismatches for ₹245 across five applicants, then run the All-in BGV at ₹399 on the top two before committing.

Five-candidate shortlist = ₹245 + ₹798 = ₹1,043 total to make a confident pick. Compare with the old way: either commit to the first reasonable candidate without a check (₹0 spent, real risk), or run the full check on all five upfront (₹1,995 spent, most of it wasted on people who weren't going to be your tenant).

DPDP Act compliance, in plain English

India's Digital Personal Data Protection Act 2023 imposes specific obligations on anyone collecting personal data — landlords included. Three of those matter for screening:

• Consent must be informed and specific (§6). You can't bury BGV consent inside a generic application. The applicant must consent to each specific check. Legally Rent surfaces a separate WhatsApp consent message per check — they tap, they consent, the check runs.
• Minimisation (§4). You can only collect data necessary for the stated purpose. Holding a tenant's full Aadhaar is rarely necessary — last-4 plus an Aadhaar OTP is enough to verify identity. Legally Rent never shows the landlord the full number.
• Erasure (§13). The applicant has the right to request erasure of their data once the purpose is fulfilled. Legally Rent provides a one-tap erasure button on every applicant's "My Data" page; reports are auto-purged after 90 days regardless.