Do this first: log in to each portal and turn off contact/lead sharing, then delete your saved searches and enquiries — until you do, the portal keeps producing fresh leads with your number on them. Then delete the account, and email the portal's Grievance Officer asking for erasure of your number under Section 12 of the DPDP Act 2023. One enquiry on these sites is resold to many agents, which is why the calls never stop on their own.
You enquired about one flat. Possibly months ago. Possibly you never even called back. Since then your phone has not been quiet — unknown numbers in the morning, again at lunch, again at half past eight in the evening, every one of them opening with "sir, property dekh rahe the?" You block one and two more appear. Eventually you stop picking up unknown numbers at all, and then you miss a call from your bank.
Nothing is broken here. This is the product working exactly as designed. On a real-estate portal your enquiry is not a question — it is a lead, and a lead is inventory. It gets passed to the agents and builders who pay for leads in that locality, and none of them is under any obligation to stop calling just because you lost interest in the flat.
The first action, before anything else: open 99acres, MagicBricks and Housing and turn off contact/lead sharing, then delete your saved searches and enquiries. Deleting the account is the right next move, but this is the step that stops new copies of your number going out today. Everything else on this page is cleaning up what has already left.
Why the calls continue even after you delete the account
Worth being honest about this, because it is the part people are not warned about: the copies of your number that were already sold are sitting in agents' phones and CRMs, well outside the portal's reach. Removing yourself cuts off the supply; it does not recall what has already shipped. Those calls tail off as the lead ages and gets discarded, not the moment you press delete.
That is precisely what the erasure request in step 3 is for. It goes to the portal, forces it to delete its own copy, and — just as usefully — it is the dated paper trail you need if you later have to escalate.
Step-by-step (repeat for each portal)
Turn off contact/lead sharing
Log in to 99acres, MagicBricks and Housing.com, and disable contact/lead sharing and notifications so your number stops being passed to agents. Do this before anything else — until you do, the portal keeps producing fresh leads with your number on them. The menu names differ between the three portals and change often — look for anything worded as contact preferences, lead sharing, or communication settings.
Delete saved searches, enquiries and listings, then delete the account
With sharing switched off, remove your saved searches, enquiries and any listing you posted — then delete the account itself.
Send a DPDP erasure request
Email each portal's grievance contact citing your Section 12 right to erasure, list your number and account, and ask for written confirmation. Where to find the right address, and what to put in the email, is below.
Where to find each portal's grievance contact
We are not printing a grievance email address for these portals on this page, and you should be wary of pages that do. These addresses change quietly, and an erasure request delivered to a dead mailbox achieves nothing except burning your 90 days — we have watched exactly that happen with a company whose published privacy address had stopped existing. All three portals are legally required to publish a Grievance Officer's name and contact on their own site, and that copy is always the current one.
| Portal | Where to find the grievance contact | What we can and can't confirm |
|---|---|---|
| 99acres | 99acres.com → footer → Privacy Policy / Terms → Grievance Officer | We do not have an address for 99acres confirmed by an actual reply, so use the one published on their site on the day you send. |
| MagicBricks | magicbricks.com → footer → Privacy Policy → Grievance Officer | Same position: read the address off their live policy page rather than trusting a copy in a blog post. |
| Housing.com | housing.com → footer → Privacy Policy → Grievance Officer | Same. Housing.com belongs to a group that runs several property sites, so ask for erasure across all of the group's platforms, not just this one. |
What to put in the erasure email
Keep it short and factual. A grievance desk acts faster when everything it needs is in the first screen:
- The plain statement: "I am exercising my right to erasure under Section 12 of the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023."
- Your full name, the +91 number you want erased, and the email address on the account.
- Roughly when you enquired and about what — the locality or project name is usually enough for them to find you.
- An explicit ask: delete the number from the platform and stop sharing it with agents or any other third party.
- A request for written confirmation. Note the date you sent it and keep the sent mail.
Send it from the email address on the account where you can — it saves a round of identity questions.
What the law actually gives you. Section 12 gives you the right to ask, and companies are expected to respond within 90 days. It is not a guarantee of deletion — a company can refuse, most commonly on the ground that it is required to retain something. If you are ignored or fobbed off, the escalation path is the company's own grievance mechanism first, then the Data Protection Board.
Register on DND while you're at it
Separately from everything above, register your number on the national Do Not Disturb list through your telecom operator's app. Be realistic about what that does: DND targets registered telemarketers, and a broker dialling you personally from an ordinary mobile number is not one. It will thin out the automated marketing calls and SMS. It will not silence the agent who bought your enquiry — only the steps above deal with him.
Find out where else your number already is
Property portals are rarely the only place. Saaph's scan and full exposure report are free, and so is generating the DPDP erasure emails for you to send yourself — we cover 255 companies in our removal registry. So far: 280 scans run, 1,252 exposures found, 867 removal requests sent, and 77% of people scanned turn up in at least one data breach. Pro (₹99 for 3 months, one-time, no auto-renewal) is for when you would rather Saaph send the requests and track the 90 days for you.
Run a free scan →FAQ
How do I stop property broker calls from 99acres and MagicBricks?
Turn off contact/lead sharing first, then delete your saved searches and enquiries, then delete the account. Finally, email each portal's Grievance Officer citing Section 12 of the DPDP Act 2023. These portals resell one enquiry to many agents, which is why the calls flood in.
I deleted my account. Why am I still getting broker calls?
Because the copies of your number that were already sold sit in agents' phones and CRMs. Deleting your account stops the portal producing new leads with your number on them, but it cannot recall the leads that already went out. The erasure request forces the portal to delete its own copy and gives you a paper trail to escalate with.
What is the grievance officer email for 99acres or MagicBricks?
We deliberately do not publish one here. These addresses change, and a request sent to a dead mailbox achieves nothing while your 90 days run down. Both portals are required to publish a Grievance Officer's name and contact on their own site, usually linked from the footer under Privacy Policy or Terms — read it off their live page on the day you send.
How long does a company have to respond to a DPDP erasure request?
Section 12 of the DPDP Act 2023 gives you the right to ask, and companies are expected to respond within 90 days. That is an expectation, not a guarantee of deletion — a company can refuse, most often because it is legally required to retain something. If you are ignored, escalate through the company's own grievance mechanism, then to the Data Protection Board.
Will registering on DND stop property broker calls?
Only partly. The national Do Not Disturb list is aimed at registered telemarketers, so it cuts automated marketing calls and SMS. An individual broker calling from an ordinary mobile number is not a registered telemarketer, so DND will not stop the agent who bought your enquiry. Register anyway — treat it as a supplement to the removal steps, not a replacement.
General information, not legal advice. Portal settings and menu names change often — check the current screens as you go. Saaph.in is not affiliated with 99acres, MagicBricks or Housing.com. Saaph is a communication facilitator: it transmits your own erasure request, and is not your legal representative or agent. Saaph.in is operated by Ronin Works Private Limited, Hyderabad, Telangana. Questions: data@saaph.in