The long-stay playbook for Bangalore

This guide is written for the individual making the decision — someone moving to Bengaluru for a project, a relocation, a notice period or a long assignment. It compares the four realistic options on the things that actually decide it: what you commit to, what you pay upfront, what is included, and who fixes the geyser when it stops working.

If you are arranging accommodation for someone else on a company's behalf, the tax and lease questions are different and are covered separately in our guide for companies — GST input tax credit, perquisite valuation under Rule 3, and TDS on rent.

What are your options for a long stay in Bangalore?

Four, in practice. The table compares them on structure rather than price, because price varies far too much by area and standard to generalise — but structure is the same across the city.

The column that decides most long stays is not the deposit or the rate — it is who maintains it. A rented flat transfers the entire operational burden of a home to you: a plumber on a Sunday, a gas connection, an internet installation, a broken inverter. A serviced apartment leaves all of that with the operator, which is the whole of what the word "serviced" is doing in the name.

Where does the serviced apartment sit between the four?

In the middle, and deliberately so. It is the only one of the four options that gives you a private kitchen without a tenancy: furnished like a flat, booked like a hotel room, with housekeeping, linen, utilities and internet folded into a single rate and every fault in the unit owned by the operator.

Because "what is actually included" is the question people most often get wrong when comparing quotes, it has its own guide: what a serviced apartment includes — the five things normally bundled into the rate, the four that usually are not, why it is a licence rather than a tenancy, and a 12-question checklist to run before you book.

Is there a legal cap on security deposits in Bangalore?

No cap appears in the text of the Karnataka Rent Act, 1999, and none was added by the Karnataka Rent (Amendment) Act, 2025, which received the Governor's assent on 7 January 2026. That amending law changes sections 24, 53, 54 and 55 of the principal Act — adjudication and penalties — and contains no security-deposit provision at all.

This matters because a large number of property blogs published through 2026 assert that Karnataka capped residential deposits at two months' rent from January 2026. That claim does not survive a reading of the amending Bill, which is a decriminalisation and penalty-rationalisation measure. The two-month figure is a recommendation in the Model Tenancy Act, 2021, a central framework that each state must enact for itself — and Karnataka has not enacted it.

The structural consequence is the reason serviced apartments do so well on medium-length stays in this city specifically: a serviced apartment is a hospitality booking, not a tenancy, so the deposit question never arises. For the company-side view of the same problem — including what a company-leased flat commits an employer to — see serviced apartments in Bangalore for companies.

Do you pay GST on a long stay?

Not always, and the exemption is more generous than most people expect. Under Notification 04/2024-Central Tax (Rate) dated 12 July 2024, effective 15 July 2024, accommodation is exempt from GST where the value of supply is up to ₹20,000 per person per month and the accommodation is supplied for a minimum continuous period of 90 days. Both conditions have to hold.

Above that value, or for stays shorter than 90 continuous days, the rates effective from 22 September 2025 apply:

Two things follow from this that are worth knowing before you negotiate. First, the 90-day exemption is tested on a continuous period — a stay broken up and rebooked does not qualify. Second, if you are paying personally rather than through a company, input tax credit is irrelevant to you, so the 5% band is simply cheaper than the 18% band and there is nothing to trade off.

The Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs also issued Circular 228/22/2024-GST, regularising the position for periods before 15 July 2024 on an "as is, where is" basis where the same value and duration conditions were met. Tax rules change; this is current as at August 2026 and is not tax advice.

What does a long stay cost to start, and what does it cost each month?

A rented flat asks for several separate amounts before you sleep a night in it — a security deposit, brokerage, an e-stamped agreement and, if the flat is unfurnished, the furniture itself — and only the deposit ever comes back. Add the first month's rent and the cash you hand over on day one runs to four to twelve months' rent — four or five at the three-month deposit HSR Layout listings typically ask, twelve if a landlord holds out for ten. That is where the apparent price advantage of renting usually goes.

The full arithmetic, the current Bengaluru utility and transport figures, and an HSR Layout budget line by line now live on their own page: Cost of living in Bangalore: an HSR Layout budget.

Note also that the notice period cuts both ways. An 11-month agreement typically carries a notice period of one to two months; leave early and you are paying rent on a flat you are not in. A serviced apartment booked monthly does not have that tail.

Which option fits which length of stay?

• Up to about a week — a hotel. Nothing else is worth the setup, and you will eat out anyway.
• One week to three months — a serviced apartment. The kitchen, the in-unit laundry and a discounted monthly rate compound over the stay, and there is no deposit or agreement to unwind when the project ends.
• Three months to a year — a serviced apartment still usually wins on total cost once the deposit, brokerage and furnishing of a flat are counted, and it is the range where the 90-day GST exemption can apply. A PG or co-living room is the cheaper option if you are a single occupant and content with a shared kitchen and house rules.
• Beyond a year — a rented flat, if you can fund the deposit and are willing to furnish it and maintain it. This is the point at which the sunk upfront costs finally amortise.

Why do long-stayers choose HSR Layout?

HSR Layout — Hosur–Sarjapur Road Layout — is a planned BDA neighbourhood in south-east Bengaluru, developed from 1985, pin code 560102 and divided into seven sectors. It sits near the convergence of the Outer Ring Road, Hosur Road and Sarjapur Road, which is why it works for people whose office is anywhere along the ORR tech corridor.

Approximate road distances from HSR Layout, published as ranges because these are areas rather than points:

The neighbourhood's own metro station is on the Blue Line (Phase 2A, along the Outer Ring Road) and is still under construction, with passenger service now reported for 2027. The Yellow Line opened on 10 August 2025 and its nearest stations to HSR Layout are Bommanahalli and Hongasandra on Hosur Road, 1.1 to 3.2 km on foot from the seven sector centres. For the full picture see Living in HSR Layout and, for journey-by-journey detail, Commuting from HSR Layout.

Common questions about long stays in Bangalore

No cap appears in the text of the Karnataka Rent Act, 1999, and none was added by the Karnataka Rent (Amendment) Act, 2025, which received the Governor's assent on 7 January 2026. That amending law changes sections 24, 53, 54 and 55 of the principal Act — adjudication and penalties — and contains no security-deposit provision at all. Claims circulating online that Karnataka introduced a two-month deposit cap in January 2026 appear to confuse the amendment with the Model Tenancy Act, 2021, which recommends a two-month cap but which Karnataka has not enacted. This is general information current as at August 2026, not legal advice.

Not always. Under Notification 04/2024-Central Tax (Rate) dated 12 July 2024, effective 15 July 2024, accommodation is exempt from GST where the value of supply is up to ₹20,000 per person per month and the accommodation is supplied for a minimum continuous period of 90 days. Above that value, or for stays shorter than 90 continuous days, GST applies at 5% without input tax credit up to ₹7,500 per unit per day and 18% with full input tax credit above ₹7,500 per unit per day, under the rates effective from 22 September 2025.

The switch is usually driven by the kitchen and the laundry rather than the nightly rate. Below about a week a hotel is simpler. From roughly one week to several months a serviced apartment normally wins, because self-catering, in-unit laundry and a discounted monthly rate compound over the length of the stay. Beyond about a year a rented flat generally becomes cheaper, provided you are willing to fund the deposit and furnish it.

Because a lease for more than one year, from year to year, or reserving a yearly rent must be compulsorily registered under the Registration Act, 1908 at the sub-registrar's office, which carries higher stamp duty and a longer process. Keeping the term at 11 months avoids compulsory registration, so it has become the standard residential term in Bengaluru. A serviced apartment sidesteps the question entirely — it is a hospitality booking, not a tenancy, so there is no agreement to register.