HouseMe: every state from first search to deposit returned

Renting a home. The Ken Case Competition 2026, Round 2. The left column is the happy flow; the red cards beside a state are what happens when that step goes wrong.

Outcome HouseMe is accountable forEvery promise in a tenancy (rent, repairs, deposit, renewal) is kept on the date it was agreed, without the tenant or owner sending a single follow-up.
Agent acts on its own A human decides before it moves on Unhappy path and what the agent does

Finding the home S0 to S3

S0

Onboarded

Tenant does a five-minute voice intake in their language: budget, area, office or school location, must-haves. Owner lists the flat by voice and uploads a walkthrough video or 360 view.

Speech unclear or wrong languageAgent reads its understanding back, switches language, or moves to text.
S1

Matched

Agent verifies the listing address, then ranks flats by percentage match, including real commute time to the tenant's office or child's school.

Address fails verificationListing is held and the owner is asked for proof. The tenant never sees it until it clears.
S2

Bridged

Agent relays the tenant's questions. The owner answers once, and that answer is reused for every other enquirer.

Owner doesn't respondThree attempts across app, WhatsApp and a voice call. Then the listing is marked stale, ranked down, and the tenant is told why.
S3

Visit set

A slot is agreed from both calendars, with a reminder to both sides the evening before.

Signing and moving in S4 to S7

S4

Terms agreed

Agent proposes rent and terms inside the range the tenant set.

Tenant says yes, then owner says yes
Owner's counter is outside the tenant's limitAgent stops, shows the gap and two options, and never accepts on the tenant's behalf.
S5

Signed

The agreement is drafted with a Promise Ledger: every verbal promise becomes a dated line, such as "fix bathroom tap by 15 Oct".

Both sign
S6

Secured

Tenant authorises a rent mandate once. The deposit is blocked in the tenant's own account, not transferred to the owner.

Tenant authorises once, in their own UPI app
Mandate declined or bank unsupportedA monthly payment link plus reminder replaces the mandate.
S7

Moved in

A joint, timestamped condition record of every room becomes the baseline for the deposit at exit.

Both confirm the record

Living there S8 and S9, repeating every month

S8

Active

Rent is collected on the agreed date. Electricity and other bills are fetched and split with roommates. Any problem the tenant raises goes to S9.

Rent debit failsRetries within the mandate rules. The tenant is told first; the owner only after the retry window.
One roommate hasn't paid their shareOnly that roommate is nudged, not the whole group.
S9

Issue loop

Tenant reports once. Agent notifies the owner, captures the date the owner commits to, and checks when it passes. Closed when the tenant confirms it is fixed, then logged to the property's history.

Committed repair date passesReminder, then a voice call citing the Promise Ledger line, then the tenant is offered the option to arrange the fix and propose a rent adjustment (both must agree), then dispute.
Owner says fixed, tenant disagreesThe issue stays open, the tenant uploads a photo, and the agent chases again.
Call hits voicemail or wrong languageAgent switches language; voicemail triggers an SMS carrying the same context.

S8 and S9 repeat for the length of the tenancy. The tenant never has to send the second message.

Renewing or leaving S10 and S11

S10

Renewal

Sixty days before the end date, the agent compiles the tenancy's own record: on-time months, issues closed, local rents. It sends a proposal built from that record.

Both approve
S11

Exit

Agent drafts and sends the notice, compares the move-out record against move-in, and proposes deductions. The deposit is released and feedback is added to the property's history.

Both approve the deductions
Deduction disputedAn evidence pack of move-in and move-out photos goes to both sides. The deposit stays blocked. After a set period it goes to mediation, or to the state rent authority where one exists.

Where HouseMe stops and asks

S4, S5, S6, S7, S10, S11, and any repair spend above the cap the owner set. Everything else the agent does on its own, which puts it at L3: it acts inside limits people set, and people handle whatever falls outside them.