Step-free rentals in Bengaluru: how to actually find one
We spent a month looking for a home for my parents in Bengaluru. The requirement was one line long: no stairs. It took us four weekends to learn that no rental platform in India can answer that question.
The search results are the problem
Search for a step-free or no-stairs rental in Bengaluru and you get two kinds of result: senior-living communities you buy into, and blog posts written to rank. Neither helps a family that simply wants a normal 2BHK where the front door is reachable.
The gap is structural. Listing sites index BHK, rent, locality and furnishing. Access is not in the schema, so it is not in the listing, so it is not in the filter, and you find out by driving there.
What to check, in order
- Street to gate. Kerb height, and whether the compound entrance is level with the road.
- Gate to lift or door. The most commonly missed one. Driveways often rise a step or two into the lobby.
- Lift. Does it exist, does it reach the floor, and is it on generator backup? A step-free flat on the sixth floor is not step-free during a power cut.
- The door threshold. Measure in millimetres.
- Inside. Sunken bathrooms and raised utility areas are common in Bengaluru and rarely photographed.
Ask for one video
The single highest-value request: a continuous video walked from the road to the front door. It answers every question above at once, it costs the owner ninety seconds, and a refusal tells you something too.
What we are building
Nele records exactly this: each leg of the walk from street to door, the threshold in millimetres, and who verified it and when. Not because it is a clever feature, but because we needed it and it did not exist.
Common questions
Why do rental listings never mention steps at the entrance?
Because there is no field for it. Listing platforms store BHK, rent, locality and furnishing. Entrance steps, door thresholds and ramp access are not part of the schema, so even an owner who wants to disclose them has nowhere to put it. A broker has no incentive to raise it either, because a wasted visit costs them nothing.
What counts as step-free?
The whole path, not the flat. Street to gate, gate to lift or door, lift to door, and then the threshold at the door itself. A flat advertised as ground floor can still have three steps at the compound gate, and a lift lobby can sit two steps above the driveway.
How high can a threshold be for a walker or wheelchair?
As a practical rule, under 20mm is comfortable, up to about 25mm is manageable, and beyond that you want a small ramp. Measure it rather than eyeballing it — most people over-estimate by half.
Are senior-living projects the only option?
No, though they dominate search results because they advertise. Plenty of ordinary rentals are step-free or one portable ramp away from it. The problem is finding them, because nobody records the information.
What should I ask before travelling to see a home?
Ask for a video walked from the road to the front door, in one take. It settles steps, gradient, lift access and threshold in ninety seconds, and it is a reasonable thing to ask of anyone genuinely letting a home.
We're opening in Bengaluru first.
Tell us what would make a home work for you, and we'll go and verify those homes first.
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