It was a quiet Saturday morning on June 20. Sanghamitra Pati was at her home in Bhubaneswar when her phone rang.

“Do ghante mein room khali kar do, building seal ho rahi hai (Vacate the room in two hours. The building is being sealed),” the caretaker of her rented accommodation in Gurugram’s DLF Phase 3 told her. Minutes later, her landlord repeated the message.

The 26-year-old marketing manager initially dismissed it as a prank. She called back to check. The answer was the same. Officials were on their way to seal the building in S Block. She had two hours to empty her one-bedroom apartment.

Hundreds of kilometres away, with keys to the flat in her bag, there was little she could do. She called a friend in Gurugram and asked him to break into the apartment and salvage whatever he could. It was the beginning of a scramble that, in the weeks that followed, upended the lives of hundreds of tenants caught in Gurugram’s crackdown on unauthorised paying guest (PG) accommodations and illegally converted rental units.

“I have completely boycotted all DLF Phases,” Pati says after moving into a 1BHK in a group housing society off Golf Course Extension Road.

“This new place is not a builder floor,” she says, referring to a multi-storey residential building constructed by a private developer with each floor sold separately. “I even asked colleagues in real estate to help me find something with the necessary approvals — something less likely to be targeted for sealing or demolition.” The lesson, she says, came the hard way.

High Court-mandated drive

The sealing drive in DLF City Phases 1 to 5 stems from a long-running legal dispute over alleged building by-law violations, unauthorised constructions and commercial use of residential properties, particularly Economically Weaker Section (EWS) plots. The matter originated in petitions filed by the DLF City Residents Welfare Association and other local groups in 2021 seeking enforcement of planning norms.

The Punjab and Haryana High Court on February 13, 2025 had directed the District Town Planner (Enforcement), Gurugram, to act against violations in residential colonies. However, the Supreme Court stayed the order on April 4 that year. The matter returned to the High Court on November 26 and it restrained the DTP (Enforcement) from taking action. On May 29 this year, the court limited the protection to only those who had filed civil miscellaneous applications, allowing enforcement action to proceed against other properties.

More than 5,000 properties are facing action over zoning violations, including the illegal operation of PG accommodations, commercial use of residential plots, and encroachments on the “right of way” — land reserved for public movement and infrastructure. But for hundreds of working professionals such as Pati, it has meant sudden displacement, financial stress, and the fear that a home can be taken away anytime.

A 25-year-old woman from Kolkata, on condition of anonymity, says the sealing drive in DLF Phase 3’s S Block came without warning on June 18, leaving her with just 10 minutes to react. She was at work when a neighbour called.

The damage became apparent later. Half her belongings remained locked inside after the building was sealed. A week later, after tenants approached the District Town Planner’s office, they were given a two-hour window to retrieve what was left.

“By then, everything was spoilt,” the woman says. She spent the next two weeks in a hotel before finding a new 1BHK in the first week of July.

“Since the drive, demand for 1BHKs and 1RKs has shot up. Rents have skyrocketed. It’s not just me — hundreds of professionals and families have been displaced. Choices are limited because so many buildings have already been sealed, and more are on the radar,” she says.

In hindsight, Pati considers herself “fortunate” to have been living alone. Others in her building were not as lucky.

“Families with toddlers and elderly parents were running around. One of my friends, who was staying in another PG accommodation, had gone to office. When he came back at night, the building had been sealed. All his belongings — documents, furniture, groceries, and clothes — were inside. Imagine coming home to nothing. To be left on the road,” she says.

What angered her most, she alleges, was the lack of prior notice. Calls to her landlord seeking a refund of the security deposit have since gone unanswered.

Tenants kept in the dark

For tenants, the biggest frustration is not just being displaced; it is the question of who is at fault.

“I had a valid rent agreement. I paid everything on time — ₹30,000 a month for a luxury 1BHK. This wasn’t some shady PG. It was a proper residential apartment. It looked completely legal. So, how was I supposed to know? If it was illegal, how was a rent agreement executed? How did the police verification happen?” says Sunaina, a displaced tenant. “But now my question is: how do I know the next place isn’t also on the list [of illegal buildings]? Who do I ask to make sure this doesn’t happen again?”

Amit Pahwa, a German language expert at a private company, claims that owners of several PG accommodations knew about the sealing drive well in advance but did not inform their tenants. Pahwa, who lives with his wife and daughter, says the uncertainty has persisted despite the owner of his rented 1BHK in a 54-unit building in DLF Phase 3 obtaining a stay on the sealing drive.

The crackdown has already prompted some tenants to move out. Navam, a 24-year-old software engineer from Punjab, vacated his PG accommodation and shifted to a rented room in a house owned by an elderly couple. “I have rented a room in a double-storey house. It is not a PG. I hope I will not face any trouble here,” he says.

A landlord in the area, who requested anonymity, admits that owners had prior information. “We did not inform the tenants because we did not expect action on such a large scale, targeting more than 5,000 properties.”

He claims that his building had all the required permissions, but shops and gyms operating on the stilt floor, designated for parking, violated the building by-laws.

Blatant violations

The extent of unauthorised construction and commercial activity in DLF Phase 3, uncovered during the enforcement drive by the Department of Town and Country Planning (DTCP), came as a shock to many residents.

The largest of the sealed properties, a 1,000-square-yard PG facility built by amalgamating two plots, had 128 rooms spread across four floors. What made it a glaring violation, officials said, was that a gym was being operated from the basement and the stilt floor housed a kitchen and a restaurant, both of which are prohibited under the building by-laws.

The drive revealed a pattern across the area: sealed properties were not only housing tenants but also operating full-fledged commercial establishments. Among those sealed were a 48-room PG facility, an unauthorised beauty parlour operating from the basement, and a 25-room PG accommodation on the upper floors of the same building, an official says.

One of the sealed buildings had a basement, a stilt floor, and four upper floors with 26 rooms in all. Here too, the basement was being used as a gym, while the stilt floor housed a salon and an office. Repeated calls and messages to DLF’s corporate communications head Divya Puri went unanswered.

Booming PG business

Gurugram’s PG and co-living market is expanding rapidly, driven by a steady influx of young professionals from across the country seeking jobs in Cyber City, Golf Course Road, Udyog Vihar, and the growing office corridor along Sohna Road. According to conservative estimates, PG accommodations in DLF Phase 3, housing 20 to 100 rooms, generate monthly rental income ranging from ₹10 lakh to ₹30 lakh.

For many, the priority is straightforward: a fully furnished place close to work, without the need to buy furniture or commit to a long lease. That demand has made PG and co-living spaces one of the city’s most lucrative rental businesses.

The market, however, is far from uniform. It varies sharply by location and budget. DLF Phases 3 and 4 remain among the most-sought-after localities. Within walking distance of Cyber City, they attract professionals willing to pay a premium for private rooms and branded co-living spaces. A few kilometres away, Sectors 15, 39, and 46 have emerged as hubs for affordable and mid-range accommodation. Owing to their proximity to Medanta Hospital, the IFFCO Chowk metro station, and major corporate offices along MG Road, these sectors are home to numerous shared accommodations popular among early-career professionals and students. Paying guest accommodation in Sectors 15 and 46 typically costs between ₹4,500 and ₹15,000 a month, depending on the amenities offered.

Farther south, Golf Course Extension Road and Sohna Road have emerged as the new frontiers for organised co-living. Owners are developing premium properties with amenities such as gyms, lounges, and concierge services, targeting senior executives and expatriates moving into new corporate campuses. Monthly rents in these areas generally range from ₹7,000 to ₹30,000, depending on the location and facilities.

What began as informal PG accommodations run by individual landlords has gradually evolved into an organised, service-oriented housing sector. DLF Phase 3’s EWS plots are central to the rental income business in Gurugram. R.P. Yadav, a lawyer who runs a PG accommodation in U Block on Road No. 11, explains the economics. “A 60-square-yard EWS plot here costs around ₹2.5 crore to ₹3 crore,” he says. “Add another ₹1 crore for construction. After an investment of around ₹4 crore, the monthly income is about ₹1 lakh to ₹1.5 lakh.”

According to Yadav, although building norms require 25% of the plot to be left open, “the entire plot is covered after the completion certificate”. “The architect also helps with it,” he adds.

While the older policy permits a stilt floor plus four upper floors, he says, several buildings have been constructed with five floors. A typical 60-square-yard PG facility has two rooms on each floor, with a total of eight to 10 rooms. Monthly rents range from ₹6,000 for an unfurnished room to ₹15,000 for a fully furnished one equipped with air conditioning, a television, an attached bathroom, and a kitchenette.

Yadav estimates that DLF Phase 3 has more than 1,000 EWS plots and that nearly half of the developed ones are being used as PG accommodations, particularly in S, U, and V blocks.

Policy paralysis

Most PG accommodations in the city’s residential colonies are operating in violation of policy norms, says District Town Planner (Enforcement) Amit Madholia. Under the policy regarding setting up guest or boarding houses in residential zones, a building cannot be subdivided into separate 1RK or 1BHK units for rent. Rooms can only be let out for stays of less than one month. The policy also caps the total land area permitted for guest houses within any residential sector or colony in Gurugram at 1.25 acres.

Haryana’s Affordable Rental Housing Policy, notified in 2021, seeks to provide short-term (minimum one month) and long-term (up to 99 years) rental housing for industrial workers, migrants, and corporate employees. However, it has seen limited uptake among private developers because of undivided ownership provisions, capped rents, and high land and construction costs. Under this policy, all housing units can only be rented and not sold, keeping ownership of the project undivided. The minimum project area is 0.5 acres while the maximum is 4 acres.

“As both policies fell short of meeting the growing demand for 1BHK and 1RK rental units, property owners capitalised on the gap. Residential buildings were illegally converted into PG accommodations in blatant violation of the building by-laws and, reportedly, with the active connivance of some DTCP officials and architects. Driven by profit, many operators also opened gyms, salons, and restaurants on stilt floors while enforcement agencies looked the other way,” says a retired DTCP official.

With land in sectors around major office hubs already fully utilised, framing a policy that addresses the demand for rental housing while curbing commercial activity in residential areas is no longer feasible, the retired official adds.

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(Edited by Rohit Paniker)