The current government paradigm towards urban poor housing is to provide land titles to the poor and promote ownership of housing. However looking at the current housing market, especially in large industrial and commercial cities, rental housing as an accessible option for the poor cannot be overlooked. A literature review has shown rental housing to be an integral part of the housing tenure systems in the city, as well as in the stages of a migrant’s upward mobility from a squatter to ownership housing. Studies worldwide have shown the presence of rental housing in almost all informal and slum settlements. This research attempts to understand rental housing within informal housing and discern its characteristics in comparison to the informal sector owner-occupied housing in the city of Rajkot in Gujarat.