Codename Bannerghatta Apartments

Codename Bannerghatta Apartments stands at Jambusawari Dinne in Gottigere, pincode 560083, on the southern side of the city along the Bannerghatta corridor. The corridor gives the project its working name and will give you your daily route: most trips will begin by joining Bannerghatta Road in one direction or the other.

Arvind Smartspaces has not published distances to offices, schools, hospitals or a metro station, so we quote none. The site is a launch, not a finished building, so the roads around it may still be changing. Drive from the plot to your workplace at your normal hour and time it, then do the evening return. Ask how the approach road from Bannerghatta Road to the gate is surfaced and lit.

A community of 340 flats will put several hundred cars onto that approach road every morning, so ask how the gate is planned, whether there is a second exit, and how many parking bays each flat gets. Walk the neighbourhood too. Gottigere has grown quickly, and what is a short drive to a market today may be a walk in five years, or may not; the visit tells you more than the address does.

Codename Bannerghatta Apartments offers four layouts, all quoted as built-up area; carpet areas are not published, so ask for them. The two-bedroom flat is about 1,131 sq ft, the two-and-a-half-bedroom about 1,410 sq ft, the three-bedroom about 1,544 sq ft and the four-bedroom about 1,888 sq ft. The half-bedroom is a small extra room; ask its dimensions before you count on it as a bedroom.

Prices are bands: two-bedroom Rs. 1.16 to 1.26 Crore; two-and-a-half Rs. 1.46 to 1.54 Crore; three-bedroom Rs. 1.59 to 1.72 Crore; four-bedroom Rs. 2.02 to 2.08 Crore. On the entry plan the starting price is about Rs. 10,250 per sq ft. Ask which tower, floor and facing the bottom of each band applies to, and whether a launch discount is built into it or offered on top.

The homes are under construction, so GST is charged on the price. Stamp duty and registration apply on top at the sale deed. Ask for a cost sheet that shows:

• Base rate and the area it is charged on
• Floor-rise and facing charges for the exact unit
• Car parking, with the number of bays included
• Clubhouse membership and the maintenance deposit
• GST as a separate line
• Stamp duty and registration
• The construction-linked payment schedule, stage by stage

Codename Bannerghatta Apartments has yet to publish a RERA registration number. That is the first thing to ask for, because a project in Karnataka may not be marketed or booked before it is registered. Check the number on the Karnataka RERA website (rera.karnataka.gov.in); the entry shows the sanctioned plan, the declared completion date and the promoter's details. Until the number exists, do not pay anything beyond a refundable expression of interest, and get the refund terms in writing.

Once the registration is in place, ask for:

• The RERA registration certificate
• The sanctioned building plan for your tower, with your unit marked
• Title documents and an encumbrance certificate for the 4 acres
• The khata and the latest tax receipt for the land
• The agreement for sale, with the handover date, the payment schedule and the delay penalty written in
• Confirmation of the project's registered name, since Codename is a working title

Pay each instalment only against the construction stage it is tied to, and keep the receipts. At handover, the occupancy certificate for your tower must be issued before you take the keys or pay the last instalment. The sale deed is then registered in your name, and the khata transfer follows.

Codename Bannerghatta Apartments is pictured as five 17-floor towers on 4 acres, with the shared spaces fitted between them. The developer has not published the share of the ground left open, and at launch the tower positions can still shift, so ask for the sanctioned site plan rather than a marketing plan. Every image you see now is a render as planned by the developer.

A morning could begin on the jogging track or the yoga deck before the gymnasium and a swim. Parents can leave a small child at the creche on the way out, and older children have the play area and the sports courts for the evening. The indoor games zone and the mini theatre cover the rainy months and the weekends.

A festival or a birthday goes to the multipurpose party hall, and the health club and spa are there for the slower Sunday. With 340 homes sharing these facilities, the practical questions matter more than the list. How many lifts does each tower have? When does the clubhouse open relative to the first handover? What will the monthly maintenance be, and how are the hall and theatre booked? Ask now, while the developer still wants your booking.