Century Indus

Century Indus stands at 833, KG Road, in Rajarajeshwari Nagar, pincode 560098, on the west side of Bengaluru. RR Nagar is long settled rather than a new corridor, so the bus routes, markets, schools and clinics around you are already in use. The developer has not published distances or named landmarks, so we quote none; test the journeys yourself.

What a settled address changes is the shape of an ordinary day. Many errands become a walk or a short auto ride instead of a drive, and the evening does not need the car. The commute is the thing to measure. Drive from the gate to your workplace at the hour you would normally leave, and repeat the run back at the evening peak, because a west Bengaluru address means city roads rather than a highway.

On the visit, walk the stretch of KG Road outside the gate and note how the approach handles traffic when 392 homes leave at once. Ask how many parking bays come with the flat and where visitors park. Since the towers have stood since 2014, ask the owners' association how the neighbourhood has changed around them, and whether water supply has been steady or depends on tankers.

Century Indus has only three-bedroom homes, so the choice is about size, tower and floor. Four sizes were built, quoted as built-up area: roughly 1,320, 1,408, 1,444 and 1,901 sq ft. The first three are within about 120 sq ft of each other, so judge them on how the rooms are arranged rather than on the number. The largest is a different kind of flat. Carpet areas have not been published; take the figure from the seller's sale deed.

The developer's price started at Rs. 1.12 Crore on the smallest home, about Rs. 8,500 per sq ft, in 2014 terms. Nothing remains with Century Real Estate, so a seller sets the asking price. Test it against registered sales in the same tower and remember that floor, facing and the condition of the interiors move the number more than the layout does.

Because the flat is complete and holds an occupancy certificate, no GST is charged. Stamp duty and registration in Karnataka apply on the full sale value, and the owners' association may charge a transfer fee. Ask for a cost summary that shows:

• The agreed sale price and the area it is based on
• Car parking bays included in the sale deed
• Association transfer fee and any sinking-fund or corpus contribution
• Outstanding maintenance dues and property tax, and who clears them
• The cost of any refurbishment you plan, since a 2014 flat may need it
• Stamp duty and registration on the full consideration

Century Indus has no RERA registration number, and there will not be one. The project was handed over in July 2014, before the law made registration compulsory in 2017, so it was never covered. The Karnataka RERA website will show nothing for it, and that is not a warning sign here. The documents that do the work instead are the occupancy certificate, the sanctioned plan and the title chain.

You are buying a finished flat from an owner, so the paperwork is that of a resale. Ask for:

• The occupancy certificate for your tower
• The seller's registered sale deed and the chain of title before it, back to the developer
• An encumbrance certificate for the flat, covering the years since the seller bought
• The khata in the seller's name and the latest property tax receipt
• The sanctioned building plan and the floor plan from the seller's original agreement
• A no-dues certificate from the owners' association

In a community of this age the flat may have changed hands more than once, so the chain of title can be longer than usual. Have a lawyer read every link and the encumbrance certificate before you pay an advance. If the seller has a home loan, the bank holds the originals and releases them when the loan is closed, usually from your payment. At registration the sale deed goes into your name, and the khata transfer follows.

Century Indus has four towers of 13 floors on 6 acres, 392 households between them, with the clubhouse, the pool and the gardens on the ground the towers leave free. The developer has not published the open-space share, so ask the owners' association for the sanctioned site plan. Because the community has been occupied since 2014, you can walk it and see the real thing rather than a render.

A morning could begin on the jogging track, continue in the gym and end with a swim before the drive out. Children have a play area, and the retail units inside the project handle the small errands that would otherwise need the car. The activity area and the outdoor courts take care of the evenings, with table tennis and the games room for a wet one.

Family occasions go to the party area, and the landscaped gardens are the setting for the rest. With 392 homes sharing all of this for ten years, the questions are about upkeep. Which facilities are still running, and what is the monthly maintenance? How large is the corpus fund, and what has the association spent on the lifts, the pool and the towers' exteriors? A community of this age tells you the answers plainly if you look.