RentSetu
A rental marketplace that connects tenants with property owners for verified, 11-month tenancies — search homes, view photos and amenities, sign the rent agreement, pay the advance and monthly rent in-app, and reach owners through a privacy-protected company line. This document specifies the Tenant app, the Owner app, and the Super-Admin dashboard.
1. Overview
1.1 Purpose
This document defines the product requirements for RentSetu, a managed rental marketplace. Tenants search available rented spaces in their city, view photos, amenities, monthly rent and move-in availability, accept a standard 11-month rent agreement, and pay the advance, booking and monthly rent through the app. Property owners list and manage their properties; every listing goes live only after the Super Admin physically verifies and approves it. The platform spans a Tenant app, an Owner app, and a web-based Super-Admin dashboard.
1.2 Product vision
To make renting trustworthy and effortless for both sides — tenants get verified listings, transparent rent and a clear legal agreement; owners get qualified, paying tenants without exposing their personal number; and the operator keeps full control through physical verification, masked calling and digital agreements. RentSetu sits in the middle as the trusted intermediary on every call, contract and payment.
1.3 What makes it different
Three deliberate design choices define RentSetu: (1) Physical verification — no listing goes live until ops visits and approves it; (2) Company-masked calling — when a tenant calls about a property, the call connects to RentSetu's company line first, never the owner's personal number; and (3) Standard 11-month agreement — a clear, legally-framed rent agreement (tenant, not owner) generated as a PDF for every tenancy.
1.4 Scope
In scope: tenant onboarding & KYC; city/locality search with filters; property detail (photos, rent, amenities, move-in date, terms); 11-month rent-agreement generation & acceptance; advance, booking & recurring monthly payments; masked company calling; owner listing management (add/edit, images, amenities, rent, T&C) with submit-for-approval; owner tenancies & payouts; and the Super-Admin dashboard (verification & approval, tenants, owners, documents, payments, settings).
Out of scope (v1): property sales/ownership transfer, commercial & co-working spaces, home-services marketplace, and multi-city franchise operations beyond the launch city.
2. Personas
| Persona | Description | Primary goals |
|---|---|---|
| Tenant | Looking to rent a home in the city. | Find a verified place fast, fair rent, clear agreement, easy payments. |
| Property owner | Has a flat/house to rent out. | List easily, get verified paying tenants, keep their number private, receive rent. |
| Verification ops | Field team that visits and verifies properties. | Confirm a listing is genuine before it goes live. |
| Super Admin | Business operator running the marketplace. | Approve listings, manage tenants & owners, oversee documents & payments. |
| Call-desk | Handles masked inbound calls. | Field tenant calls on the company line and route appropriately. |
3. Tenant — Discovery & Search
Tenants search for available rented spaces in their city. The home screen leads with a locality/city search and quick filters — budget (monthly rent), BHK/type, furnishing, and move-in date. Results are shown as rich cards with a primary photo, monthly rent, locality, area (sq ft) and an "available from" date. Only admin-approved, live listings appear to tenants. See search → property → booking play out in the demo →
4. Property Detail
A property page shows a full photo gallery, the monthly rent and deposit, area (sq ft) and configuration, the amenities on offer (lift, parking, power backup, security, etc.), the move-in availability date, and the terms & conditions. From here the tenant can view the standard 11-month rent agreement, place a booking, or call about the property — which connects through RentSetu's company line (§7), never the owner's personal number.
5. Booking & the 11-Month Agreement
To book, the tenant reviews and accepts the standard 11-month rent agreement, generated as a PDF for the specific property and tenant. The agreement is explicit that it grants tenancy for an 11-month term only — the tenant rents and does not, in any case, acquire ownership of the property. It captures the parties, the term, rent, deposit, lock-in, notice period and house rules. On acceptance the tenant pays the advance/deposit and booking amount to confirm the tenancy and the move-in date.
6. Payments
RentSetu handles money end to end: the advance/deposit and booking payment at the time of booking, then recurring monthly rent paid in-app. Tenants see upcoming due dates, get reminders, and can pay rent in a tap; a full payment history and receipts are always available. Payments run through Razorpay (UPI, cards, net-banking), with auto-debit/recurring mandates for monthly rent and GST-compliant receipts.
7. Company-Masked Calling
When a tenant taps "Call" on a property, RentSetu shows and dials a company number, not the owner's. The call connects to RentSetu first; the platform then bridges to the owner (or the call desk handles it), so the owner's personal number is never exposed to tenants. This keeps every lead with the company, protects owner privacy, and lets RentSetu record and route calls. Implemented with a telephony number-masking provider (e.g. Exotel/Knowlarity).
8. Owner — Listing Management
Owners manage their portfolio in the Owner app. They can add a new property or edit an existing one — adding photos, selecting from a list of amenities (or adding new ones), setting the expected monthly rent and deposit, the area and configuration, the move-in availability, and their terms & conditions. When the owner submits the listing it does not go live immediately — it enters a "Pending approval" state and is routed to the Super Admin for physical verification.
9. Owner — Tenancies & Payouts
Once a property is live and rented, the owner sees the active tenancy — tenant, tenure (11 months), rent and the signed agreement — and tracks rent received and payouts. The owner accepts that they agree to provide the rented space for the agreed term; this consent is captured as a digital owner agreement stored against the property.
10. Super Admin — Verification & Approval
The heart of the operation. Every submitted listing lands in the Admin dashboard as Pending approval. Ops physically visits the property to verify it is genuine and as described; only then does the admin approve it. On approval the listing goes live to tenants and is shown as Live to the owner. Admins can also reject or request changes, with reasons.
11. Admin — Records & Documents
The Super-Admin dashboard holds the full record of the marketplace. For tenants: contact details, phone, the property rented, tenure/dates and rent. For owners: their listed properties with full details — area (sq ft), photos and status. And for both sides, the documents are stored and retrievable: the tenant's 11-month rent agreement and the owner's agreement to provide the rented space for the agreed term.
| Section | What admin sees |
|---|---|
| Listings | Pending / live / rejected; verify & approve, with photos & details. |
| Tenants | Name, phone, property, tenure (11 months), rent, agreement PDF. |
| Owners | Name, properties, area, photos, KYC, owner agreement. |
| Documents | All tenant rent agreements & owner agreements, downloadable. |
| Payments | Advances/deposits held, monthly rent collected, owner payouts. |
| Settings | Company calling number, amenities master, fees, roles. |
12. Non-Functional Requirements
Performance
Search results under 2 seconds; property & checkout interactive under 1.5 seconds.
Scalability
City-scale catalogue via a dedicated search index; horizontal scaling of media & payments.
Security & privacy
Owner numbers never exposed (masked calling), encrypted PII & KYC, RBAC for admin.
Agreements
Tamper-evident 11-month rent-agreement & owner-agreement PDFs with e-acceptance & audit trail.
Compliance
GST-compliant receipts, RBI payment-aggregator & recurring-mandate norms, rental law per state.
Observability
Audit logs for approvals, calls, payments & documents; reconciliation & fraud alerts.
13. Listing & Tenancy Status Model
| Status | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Draft | Owner is still preparing the listing. |
| Pending approval | Submitted; awaiting Super-Admin physical verification. |
| Live | Verified & approved; visible to tenants, shown Live to the owner. |
| Rejected | Did not pass verification; owner sees the reason. |
| Booked | Tenant accepted the agreement; advance/booking paid. |
| Rented (active) | Tenancy live; monthly rent in progress within the 11-month term. |
| Vacated | Tenure ended or notice served; property freed for re-listing. |
14. Open Questions
- Masked-calling provider — Exotel vs Knowlarity vs Twilio; and full bridge vs call-desk routing in v1?
- Who holds the advance/deposit — RentSetu escrow released to owner, or passed through; and refund rules at vacate?
- Monthly rent — auto-debit mandate (e-NACH/UPI Autopay) or tenant-initiated each month?
- Agreement e-signing — Aadhaar e-sign / DigiLocker, or simple in-app acceptance with audit trail in v1?
- Verification SLA & field-ops workflow — how fast from "Pending" to a verification visit, and a separate ops app?
- Commission model — owner-side listing/success fee, tenant convenience fee, or both?