Short answer: send a dated written demand, then a legal notice by registered post, then file — and for almost every PG resident "file" means a consumer complaint, online, with a filing fee of ₹0 and no lawyer required. Plan for six to eighteen months, not the three months the statute aspires to. The single biggest determinant of whether you get the money back is not which forum you choose; it is whether you built the evidence file before you moved out.
Our guide to hostel and PG deposit refund rules covers what the owner may and may not legitimately deduct. This piece is the other half: what to do once they have deducted it anyway and stopped replying. It sits inside our wider explainer on PG and hostel laws and tenant rights in India, which is worth reading first if you are unclear why rent control is not an option for you.
Before anything: the evidence file
Assemble this before you send a single message. Every step below is stronger with it and close to hopeless without it.
- The agreement, with the deposit stated as a fixed figure. A written contract with a liquidated sum is what preserves your fastest legal options.
- Every payment record — bank transfer references, UPI screenshots showing date and beneficiary, receipts. Bank records beat cash receipts, and cash with no receipt is the hardest position to argue from.
- Move-in and move-out condition evidence — timestamped photos and video of the room, walls, furniture, fittings and meter readings on both dates.
- The written notice you gave, and proof you gave it — email, WhatsApp with delivery ticks, or a signed acknowledgement.
- The amenities you were sold — the listing, brochure, the WhatsApp messages promising Wi-Fi speed or meal plans. This is what converts a tenancy claim into a service claim.
- The refusal itself. Get the owner to say no in writing, even if the message is rude. It fixes the date your cause of action arose.
Step 1: the written demand (do this first, always)
Not a phone call. A dated message you can produce later. Email is best; WhatsApp is acceptable. Keep it short, unemotional and specific:
- Your name, room, and the dates of your stay.
- The exact deposit amount and how it was paid.
- The date you vacated and that you handed over the room and keys.
- A specific demand: the full amount, or the amount less any deduction you accept, refunded to a named account within 15 days.
- A request that any deduction be itemised in writing with supporting bills.
That last line does a lot of work. Vague deductions — "painting", "maintenance", "damages" — collapse when someone has to produce an invoice. Many disputes end here, because the owner realises you are keeping records.
Step 2: the legal notice
There is no general statutory requirement to send a legal notice before a private civil claim, and no prescribed format for one. The 60-day notice requirement under Section 80 of the Civil Procedure Code, 1908 applies to suits against the Government or a public officer — it has nothing to do with your PG owner. Send one anyway, for four practical reasons: it creates a dated formal record of demand, it evidences the cause of action for limitation purposes, it very often triggers a settlement, and a commission looks favourably on a documented prior demand.
A workable notice states the facts and dates, the amount claimed, the contractual basis, a clear demand with a deadline (15 days is standard), and what you will do if it is ignored. Send it by registered post with acknowledgement due and keep the posting receipt and the AD card. Email a copy the same day.
On cost: advocates' drafting fees in India are unregulated and vary enormously by city and counsel, and there is no credible published range worth quoting — so we are not going to invent one. What is worth knowing is that you may not have to pay at all. Section 12 of the Legal Services Authorities Act, 1987 entitles several categories of person to free legal services, and a woman qualifies regardless of income. So do SC/ST members, children, persons with disabilities, victims of trafficking or violence, persons in custody, and anyone below the income ceiling set by their state. The NALSA helpline is 15100, or approach your District Legal Services Authority directly.
Step 3: choosing the forum
The consumer commission — usually the right answer
Under the Consumer Protection Act, 2019, pecuniary jurisdiction is calculated on the consideration paid, not the compensation claimed. The District Commission handles matters where the consideration does not exceed ₹50 lakh, so a PG dispute is always a District Commission matter, filed where you or the opposite party resides or carries on business.
| What | Detail |
|---|---|
| Filing fee | Nil where consideration paid is up to ₹5,00,000, under Rule 7 of the Consumer Protection (Consumer Disputes Redressal Commissions) Rules, 2020. ₹200 from ₹5–10 lakh, rising in slabs above that. |
| Where to file | Online at e-Jagriti, the unified platform that replaced e-Daakhil. The old edaakhil.nic.in address no longer resolves — do not use it. |
| Lawyer needed? | No. A consumer can register and file directly. Many people do. |
| Limitation | Two years from the cause of action, under Section 69 of the Act. Delay can be condoned for sufficient cause, with reasons recorded. |
| Statutory timeline | Section 38(7) says the commission "shall endeavour" to decide within three months where no testing is required. It is an endeavour, not a deadline. Real disposal usually takes considerably longer. |
The framing problem, and how to solve it. Consumer commissions have declined complaints that read as pure landlord-tenant disputes — the leading example being the Supreme Court's 2000 decision in Laxmiben Laxmichand Shah v. Sakerben Kanji Chandan, where a tenant was held not to be a consumer precisely because her lease contained no clause under which the landlord agreed to render services for consideration. So do not file "my landlord kept my deposit". File "I paid a monthly fee for accommodation plus food, Wi-Fi, housekeeping, electricity and security; here is what was promised, here is what was delivered, here is the deficiency, and the relief claimed includes the deposit wrongfully retained." That is the shape of the complaint the Kangra District Commission allowed in July 2026, ordering a hostel to refund ₹30,000 to a student.
Being straight about the uncertainty: whether a deposit-only claim, with no service element at all, is a consumer dispute is not settled, and we could not find authority either way. If your PG genuinely sold you nothing but a bed, your position in a consumer commission is weaker and a civil money suit may be the cleaner route.
Civil money suit or small causes court
A deposit claim is an ordinary money-recovery suit. Whether it goes to the Court of Small Causes or the regular civil court turns on the amount and on a ceiling your State Government fixes by notification — the figures vary between states and are revised piecemeal, so do not rely on a number you read online. Ask at the district court filing counter or check your district court's website.
One route worth knowing about: Order XXXVII of the Civil Procedure Code allows a summary suit where the plaintiff seeks only to recover a debt or liquidated demand in money arising on a written contract. In a summary suit the defendant has no automatic right to defend and must apply for leave — that is the entire speed advantage. Two caveats matter. If the owner has made deductions for alleged damages, the claim is arguably no longer "liquidated". And if there is no written agreement, this route is closed to you outright. Which is, again, the argument for insisting on a written agreement with the deposit stated as a fixed figure before you move in — see the agreement checklist.
The police
Realistically, the police will call a deposit dispute a civil matter and decline to register an FIR. That changes if there is a criminal element — threats, intimidation, your belongings locked away, your original documents withheld. Even where they decline, ask for a written acknowledgement of your complaint or a non-cognisable report entry. It is a dated official record and it costs you nothing. If the situation involves safety rather than money, the complaint routing guide sets out the right order.
What it actually costs, and how long
| Route | Out-of-pocket | Realistic timeline | Lawyer? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Written demand | ₹0 | 1–3 weeks | No |
| Legal notice | Postage; drafting fee if you engage counsel, or free via DLSA if eligible | 2–4 weeks to a response | Optional |
| National Consumer Helpline (1915) | ₹0 | Days to weeks; mediation only, cannot order a refund | No |
| District Consumer Commission | ₹0 filing fee below ₹5 lakh consideration | Commonly several months to well over a year | No |
| Civil / small causes suit | Court fee on the claim value, plus counsel | Longer still | Effectively yes |
The National Consumer Helpline on 1915 (8 a.m. to 8 p.m., also on WhatsApp at 8800001915) is worth one call before you file. It is a grievance mediation and advisory service — it cannot order anyone to pay you — but a mediated call from it resolves a surprising number of disputes and costs you nothing.
What the owner will argue, and how to pre-empt it
- "You did not give notice." Pre-empt by giving notice in writing, dated, with delivery proof, exactly as the agreement requires.
- "There was damage." Pre-empt with move-in and move-out photos and a demand for itemised bills. Normal wear is not damage.
- "Painting and deep cleaning are standard deductions." Only if your agreement says so. If it does not, ask which clause authorises it.
- "You broke the lock-in." Check what the agreement actually says about lock-in versus notice — they are different things and are often conflated.
- "There is no record you paid a deposit." This is why cash without a receipt is the worst position, and why the bank transfer reference is the single most valuable document you own.
When it is not worth it
Be honest with yourself about the arithmetic. For ₹3,000–₹5,000, a firmly worded legal notice is usually where the effort should stop; the recovery is real but the tail of a contested case is long. For ₹15,000 and above, or where several residents were treated the same way, filing is clearly worth it — and a joint complaint by four residents against the same PG is far more effective than four separate ones, because the pattern becomes the point.
The best defence remains selection, and the tell is documentation at intake. A PG that issues a written agreement, gives receipts and collects your ID for police verification properly is far less likely to be the one arguing with you on the way out. If you are searching in a high-churn market like Pune, insist on all three before the money moves.
This is general information for residents, not legal advice. Rent, licensing and police rules differ from state to state and change often — check the position in your own city, and speak to a lawyer or your District Legal Services Authority before you act on anything that matters.