CasaGrand Orlena

CasaGrand Orlena stands on Thanisandra Main Road at Ashwath Nagar in HBR Layout, pincode 560077, in the north of Bengaluru. The locality falls between two corridors that have grown fast over the past decade, Hennur Road and Thanisandra, and it borrows its shops, schools, hospitals and eating places from both. The developer has not published distances or travel times to any office, station or school, so we quote none.

Because the blocks have been occupied since October 2023, you can test the commute rather than guess at it. Drive from the gate to your workplace at the hour you would really leave, then back in the evening, and ask a resident how the run has changed since they moved in. Thanisandra Main Road itself is a busy artery, so notice how the gate joins it and where visitors park.

A community of 296 homes sends a good deal of traffic through its gates at the school-run hour. Ask how many entry points there are, whether one is for service vehicles, and how the internal roads handle five blocks' worth of cars. Walk the lanes behind the site too; a north Bengaluru address can be quieter one street back than on the main road.

CasaGrand Orlena offers two plans, both under the developer's Elite label and both quoted as built-up area; carpet areas have not been published, so ask for them. The 2 BHK Elite is about 1,078 sq ft and the 3 BHK Elite about 1,541 sq ft. Ask what the Elite label means in specification terms, since it is the only grade here.

The 2 BHK starts at Rs. 62 Lakhs, which is about Rs. 5,750 a sq ft, and the 3 BHK at Rs. 92 Lakhs, about Rs. 6,000 a sq ft. Those are starting figures; in a seven-floor block the upper floors and the facings that look onto the clubhouse or gardens will cost more than the ones that face a boundary wall. Because Casagrand still holds units in both plans, ask to see more than one before you settle, and ask for a unit-wise price list rather than the headline figure.

Since the project is complete, no GST is payable on a home that has its occupancy certificate. Stamp duty and registration are due in Karnataka on the full consideration. Ask for a cost sheet that lists:

• Base price and the area it is charged on
• Floor and facing premium on the unit you choose
• Car parking and the number of bays included
• Clubhouse membership and the maintenance deposit
• Stamp duty and registration on the full consideration

CasaGrand Orlena comes without a RERA registration number from its developer. Ask for it, or for a written reason the project is outside RERA, and search the Karnataka RERA website at rera.karnataka.gov.in before you pay a booking amount. If an entry exists, it shows the sanctioned plan and the completion date the promoter promised, both of which you can compare with the finished blocks.

Because the blocks are complete, the occupancy certificate is the paper that matters most; it confirms each block was finished as sanctioned and may be lived in. Ask to see it for your block, then collect:

• The sanctioned building plan with your unit and floor marked
• Title documents and an encumbrance certificate for the 4 acres
• The khata and the most recent property tax receipt
• A draft sale deed, because a completed flat transfers on a sale deed, not an agreement to sell
• The owners' association's bylaws and its current maintenance rate

Registration puts the sale deed in your name; the khata transfer and the first tax receipt in your name follow. If a unit is offered without an occupancy certificate, it is not finished in the eyes of the law, so ask why before going further.

CasaGrand Orlena spreads five blocks of seven floors over 4 acres, low enough that no home is far from the ground, with a 24,000 sq ft clubhouse in the middle of them. The developer has not published the share of the plot left open, so ask for the site plan and then walk it. Since the project is complete, every facility should be built and in use rather than drawn.

A morning could begin in the meditation and yoga area, then the interactive gymnasium, then a swim in the pool with the deck and the jacuzzi beside it. The jogging and skating track loops the site, and the multiple sports courts fill the hours after school. Parents have a creche and a play area for the younger children, and the business centre gives anyone working from home a desk away from the flat.

Evenings and weekends turn to the games room and the VR room, the mini theatre for a film with neighbours, and the party area with its barbecue lawn for birthdays and festivals. The landscaped gardens are the shared green. With 296 households, ask how the pool and the party spaces are booked, what the monthly maintenance charge is, and how the clubhouse has been kept in the two years since handover began.