How to vet the person who will run your home in India

You will hand a stranger your keys, your reviews and part of your income. The questions below separate a professional manager from a cousin of a friend with a WhatsApp group.

We wrote this checklist so that you can use it with anyone, including us. A good manager answers every point in writing without being chased. Hesitation on money flows or exit terms tells you more than any brochure.

1. What exactly are you signing?

There are two broad models. Under a management mandate, the manager acts in your name: bookings, registration and the income are yours, and the manager earns a fee or commission. Under a lease or master tenancy, someone rents your property and sublets it; you receive a fixed rent and lose sight of how the home is used. Some state schemes tie registration to the owner or the owner's own residence, so a sublet model may simply not be permitted. Read the contract title and the clause on who holds the registration.

2. Who touches the money, and when?

• Does the platform pay you directly, or does money pass through the manager's account?
• If it passes through them, how many days before it reaches your NRO account?
• Who deducts and deposits tax at source, and will you receive the certificates?
• How is GST handled on stays, and on the manager's own fee?

Vague answers here are the single most common source of disputes between absent owners and local operators.

3. What will you see each month?

Ask for a sample report before signing. It should list each stay with dates, gross amount, platform commission, cleaning, consumables, repairs, taxes and the net sum paid. Photos after deep cleans and a log of guest complaints are signs of a manager with nothing to hide.

4. Compliance they handle, compliance you keep

Ask how they file Form C for foreign guests within 24 hours, who keeps the login, and how they would prove a filing was made. Ask which state category your home is registered under and whether its conditions, such as an agent living on the premises in Goa's Bed and Breakfast category, are actually met. A manager who shrugs at these questions exposes you, not themselves.

5. Spending authority

Agree a ceiling for repairs without prior approval, a list of approved tradespeople and a rule for emergencies. Everything above the ceiling should need your written yes.

6. Access and keys

Who holds keys, lock codes and alarm codes? Can you change them when the contract ends? Does the manager ever let friends, staff or contractors stay between bookings? It should be written down.

7. Pricing discipline

Ask how nightly prices are set and reviewed. A manager filling the calendar with deep discounts keeps occupancy high and your income low. Ask to see the rules they apply to weekends, festivals and last-minute gaps, and how minimum stays are chosen.

8. Leaving

• Notice period and any exit fee.
• Handover of the listing, reviews and future bookings.
• Return of keys, codes, documents and deposits within a fixed number of days.

9. Promises to be wary of

A guaranteed annual figure before anyone has visited the property is a warning sign. So is a manager who suggests skipping registration because "everyone does". The downside of those shortcuts lands on the owner.

How Hexuvium answers these questions

We work under a management mandate only. The property and the registration stay in your name. We handle listing, pricing, guest messages, check-ins, cleaning coordination, Form C filings and a monthly statement, and we provide the documents your chartered accountant needs. Our fees and exit terms are written into the mandate before you sign, and we do not quote income guarantees.