Price transparency, brochures and hidden costs: Bengaluru buyer questions

A RERA registration record does not carry a current price or availability, so a regulator record cannot supply one. Where we hold a developer's asking price, we show it as Developer states with the date we checked it. Otherwise the field reads Not verified. A price per square foot also depends on whether it is quoted on carpet area or on a larger area basis, so a figure shown without its basis can mislead. Ask for a written cost sheet for your unit.

How we label data gaps

Ask for a written cost sheet that shows the base price, floor rise or location charges, parking, club or amenity charges, utility connection charges, GST, stamp duty and registration, maintenance deposits and legal fees. The mix differs by project. The Act requires the agreement for sale to state the dates and manner of payments, so compare the cost sheet with the draft agreement. Compare projects only on the same cost-sheet basis, and treat any online estimate as indicative.

Stamp duty and registration on Kaveri

Treat it as an asking price or a starting indication, not a final price. The figure you pay depends on the unit, floor, view, area basis, taxes and other charges. Ask for the written cost sheet for your unit and compare it with the draft agreement before you pay. The RERA Act has a provision on compensation where a buyer pays an advance relying on an incorrect or false statement in an advertisement or prospectus, but take legal advice on how it applies to you.

How we label data gaps

We show a brochure as a project's own only when its file prints that project's exact registration number or the developer's page confirms it. Otherwise the project shows Request brochure, or the file is labelled Shared brochure, so you are not shown a file for the wrong phase. The Act treats each phase of a development as a stand-alone project that is registered separately, which is why the phase matters. An advisor can ask the developer for the right file.

RERA record versus brochure

Builders often collect sums at or near possession that go by names such as corpus fund or maintenance deposit, but the Act does not define either term, so the meaning and amount come from your agreement and cost sheet. Ask what each sum covers, who holds it, and how it is passed to the residents' association with a statement. The Act makes the promoter responsible for essential services until the association takes over maintenance, and for paying outgoings it has collected, so ask how that is handled.

Documents to check before booking

Sources copy from different places and at different dates: a developer page, a portal listing or a regulator filing. Prices and developer-stated dates change. The completion date on the RERA registration is the promoter's declared time period, and the Act allows an extension in defined circumstances, which the Karnataka RERA portal lists as extension status. We show the claim, its check date and the RERA date separately and flag differences. Confirm the date in your agreement.

How we label data gaps

Availability is Not verified in our data because a registration record does not carry it. Ask the developer for a written availability statement for the tower, floor and facing you want, and for the date of that statement. The Act requires promoters to file quarterly lists of units booked, but that is a booking count, not a live availability list. Be careful with urgent claims that units are about to run out, and ask for the same answer in writing.

Red flags and data gaps