Casagrand Dior

Casagrand Dior stands in Kilpauk, one of the older, settled residential neighbourhoods close to the heart of Chennai. The developer gives only the locality, with no street address, pincode or landmark. It also publishes no distances, so the picture of daily life has to come from your own visits.

Central locations tend to trade space for convenience. Land is scarce and expensive, which is why this project is a single building on well under an acre rather than a gated campus. In return, the city's older markets, schools and hospitals are usually closer than they would be on the edge of town.

Ask the sales team for the exact street and then test it. Drive to your office at the hour you would leave, and back in the evening. Walk the street at night to see how well lit it is, and check whether it floods after heavy rain. Note how far the nearest school, clinic and grocery store are on foot. If older parents will live with you, see how easily an auto or a cab reaches the gate.

Casagrand Dior was planned with two layouts. The three-bedroom Signature home measures roughly 1,955 sq ft and opens at Rs. 3.39 Crore. The four-bedroom Signature home, roughly 2,515 sq ft, has sold out. Sizes are given as built-up area; the carpet area is not published.

The developer quotes Rs. 15,199 per sq ft for the three-bedroom home. Our own division of the price by the size gives about Rs. 17,300. Both cannot be right on the same area, so ask which figure the rate uses. The answer changes how this home compares with others in Kilpauk.

Because the building is under construction, GST applies, and stamp duty and registration are payable on top. With only two homes left, floor and facing may already be decided for you. Ask for a cost sheet that shows:

• Base price for the specific unit and its floor
• The area the per-sq-ft rate is calculated on
• Car park charges in the stilt level
• Maintenance deposit and corpus fund
• GST, stamp duty and registration shown separately
• The stage-linked payment schedule

Casagrand Dior is registered with Tamil Nadu RERA under TN/29/BUILDING/0398/2023. Look it up on the TNRERA website before you pay a booking amount. Check that the registered count of 30 homes, the promoter's name and the declared completion date match what the sales team tells you.

Since the building is still going up, there is no completion certificate yet. At this stage, ask for:

• The RERA registration certificate
• The approved building plan showing your unit
• Title documents and an encumbrance certificate for the 0.63-acre plot
• A draft agreement for sale with the handover date and payment schedule
• A letter naming the homes that remain unsold

Read the agreement for the penalty the developer pays if handover slips, and for how the carpet area is defined. At handover, ask for the completion certificate for the building, then register the sale deed in your name. Transfer the property tax assessment and the electricity connection to yourself, and collect a copy of the approved plan for your records.

Casagrand Dior is one building of stilt parking and five floors on 0.63 acres, shared by just 30 households. The developer has not published how much of the plot stays open. Ask for the approved site plan to see where the gardens and play spaces go, and treat any images as planned by the developer.

The facilities are scaled to the building rather than to a township. A morning could start on the rooftop cabana, with yoga and meditation pods for a quieter start and a functional fitness frame for a workout. Children get a covered play park whose floor doubles as a set of sensory games, and there is a pet park for the dog.

Older family members have a senior citizens' corner and a reflexology walkway, with leisure seating along the way. Weekends can move to the barbeque station, the tree court or the sculpture garden. With so few residents, these spaces should rarely feel crowded. Ask how the monthly maintenance will be set, since fewer flats share the cost of running them.