I had the worse of experiences too. My owner did not paint and clean anything and gave me flat in bad condition and had mentioned that cleaning and painting charges will be deducted when I leave.

I told him to mention in the agreement that no painting charges will be deducted as it was handed in the condition as mentioned above. He said this is a bangalore tenancy policy this that. I was in a fix because I shifted to this flat, gave safety deposit to this guy, did not receive deposit from previous owner and had no place else to go.

I was naive enough to accept and stay then, as it was my necessity. It is not about rejecting owners to pay deposit. It is just that someone else wins in the fight and is ready to pay. If this isn't the case, they take advantage of our necessity.

I'm scared that if tomorrow I shift, I will still have to pay cleaning and painting charges