For owners abroad

Renting out your house in Kerala while you live abroad

Lakhs of Kerala homes stand locked while their owners work in the Gulf, Europe or America. A locked house still costs money: building tax, a minimum power bill, and a monsoon’s worth of damp each year. Let to the right tenant it pays for itself and stays lived in, but only if it’s set up so you can run it from abroad. This is the order to do it in.

1. Get the house ready

Sort out the water first.It’s the first thing a Kerala tenant asks about: a Water Authority connection, a well, or both; whether the motor and the overhead tank work; whether the well runs low in April and May.
Get ahead of the monsoon. Roof, terrace waterproofing, gutters and drain outlets cost less to fix in February than in July, and a leak in the first monsoon is how a good tenancy goes sour.
Treat for termites before anyone moves in, and keep the receipt.
Furnish lightly. Kitchen cabinets, wardrobes, fans and lights suit most family tenants. Every appliance you add is one more thing to get repaired from abroad.
Know who rents near you.Near Kochi’s Infopark and Kakkanad, or Technopark in Thiruvananthapuram, it’s mostly IT staff and young families. In district towns it’s families and transferred government and bank staff. A large house in a village can take longer to let, and is often better with one family who stays for years than empty while you wait for a higher rent.

2. Find a tenant from abroad

Have someone on the ground: a relative, a neighbour you trust, or a paid caretaker who can show the house. Meet the shortlist yourself on a video call, not only over WhatsApp messages.
List it widely. The big property portals, OLX, and the local Facebook and WhatsApp groups for the town. If a local broker brings tenants, agree the fee in writing before they bring anyone.
Check them. ID (Aadhaar or passport), an employer letter or proof of business, and a phone call to their last landlord.
Tell the police.In Kerala, tenant verification is done at the local police station: a form with your details and the tenant’s, with copies of ID and photos. Ask the station whether your representative can hand it in for you, and do it before the tenant moves in.

3. The agreement and the deposit

An 11-month agreement on stamp paperis the usual form, renewed each year. A lease of a year or more has to be registered at the sub-registrar’s office. Our free NRI rental agreement has the clauses an owner abroad needs: TDS, the NRO account, and who acts for you.
Signing from abroad. A relative can sign for you with a power of attorney. One signed abroad is attested at the Indian embassy or consulate (or apostilled, in countries that use apostilles), and has to be stamped in Kerala within three months of reaching India.
Be careful with a Kerala “lease”.In much of Kerala a house is often given on lease: the tenant pays a large refundable sum up front, often several lakhs, and no monthly rent. From abroad it’s harder than it looks. You must have the whole amount ready to hand back the day they leave, and the tax and foreign-exchange treatment isn’t the same as rent. Ask a CA before you agree to one.
For a monthly rent, agree the deposit in writing: how much, when it comes back, and what can be deducted. What makes a deduction stick is a move-in condition report the tenant signed on the first day.
If it goes wrong, eviction in Kerala goes through the Rent Control Court under the Kerala Buildings (Lease and Rent Control) Act, 1965, and only on the grounds the Act lists, such as unpaid rent or your own genuine need for the house. It takes time. Choosing the tenant well and keeping the paperwork straight is worth far more than anything you can do afterwards.

4. Rent into your NRO account

Rent goes into your NRO account, not NRE. NRE is for money earned abroad; rent is earned in India. Put the NRO details in the agreement.
It arrives after TDS.Because you’re a non-resident, the tenant deducts tax from every month’s rent, at 31.2% unless you have a lower-rate certificate, and gives you a Form 16A each quarter. Work out yours with the TDS calculator.
Sending it abroad.Rent, once the tax is dealt with, can be sent abroad from the NRO account. Your bank will ask for a declaration (Form 15CA), and often a CA’s certificate (Form 15CB).
Paying for things from abroad. Several Indian banks now let NRIs use UPI on an NRE or NRO account with an overseas mobile number, in many countries including the Gulf, so paying a plumber is a two-minute job and leaves a record.

5. Building tax and income tax

Building taxis paid to your panchayat, municipality or corporation, in half-yearly instalments. Municipalities and corporations have moved it to the government’s K-SMART portal, and panchayats are moving too; your local body will tell you which to use. Keep every receipt: you’ll need them for a property certificate, and they reduce your income tax.
Income tax in India.Rent from a Kerala house is taxable in India wherever you live. You’re taxed on the rent less the building tax you paid, less a 30% standard deduction (and interest on a home loan for it), at your slab rates. The TDS already taken counts against that, and any excess comes back when you file your return.
Where you live matters.In the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait and Bahrain there’s no personal income tax on it, so India is the only place it’s taxed. In the UK, the US, Canada or Australia it’s usually taxable there too, with credit for the Indian tax under the tax treaty. A CA who files NRI returns can do both.

6. Repairs from abroad

Say who pays for what in the agreement: small repairs up to an amount you set by the tenant; anything structural, or a fitting that fails from age, by you.
Keep a local number for emergencies: a relative, neighbour or caretaker for the night the pump stops.
Ask for photos before and after every repair, and pay by bank or UPI, not cash handed over by a relative, so there’s a record of what was done and what it cost.
Every year before June: roof, terrace, gutters and drains checked, and branches near the house cut back.

7. When the tenant leaves

Walk the house with the tenant, or have your representative do it, with the move-in report in hand, and fill in the move-out column line by line. Deduct only for what is worse than it was, beyond fair wear. Read the electricity and water meters, check the last KSEB and Water Authority bills are paid, count the keys, and refund the deposit within the days the agreement says. The free condition report has both columns and works out the refund.

The arrangement that goes wrong most

Rent paid in cash to a relative. It feels simple, until there’s no TDS, no record of what was paid, a relative stuck between you and the tenant, and nothing to show a court if you ever need to. Rent should go from the tenant’s bank to your NRO account, every month, with the TDS deducted.

General information as of October 2026, not legal or tax advice. Rules, rates and government portals change: check the agreement and anything about eviction with a Kerala advocate, and your tax with a CA.

Houscade does this from wherever you are: the agreement e-signed with Aadhaar, the rent paid into your account every month with the TDS worked out, condition reports with photos, and repairs booked when something breaks. See how it works for owners abroad.