Purva Whitehall

Purva Whitehall stands at Ambalipura on Sarjapur Main Road, with Harlur next door, pincode 560035, in east Bengaluru. Few housing corridors in the city are as busy as Sarjapur Road, and Ambalipura is part way along it. Because the project was finished in 2017, the neighbourhood has had years to fill in with shops and services around it.

The developer has not published distances or travel times to any office, school, hospital or station, so we do not quote any here. The traffic on this road is the real question for most families. Drive from the gate to your office at the time you would usually leave, and do the return trip in the evening. Try the school run on a weekday morning as well.

Getting out of the campus and onto the main road is part of your daily routine too. Watch how cars queue at the gate during rush hour, and check whether there is a safe place to wait for a cab. Ask which block is closest to the entrance and how far your parking bay is from the lift lobby. Small details like these shape every weekday.

Purva Whitehall has one plan: four bedrooms in about 2,400 sq ft, a size quoted as built-up area. The developer has sold them all. Since the layout never changes, what sets one flat apart from another is its block, its floor, the direction the windows face and how well the owner has kept the interiors. Ask for the carpet area shown on the seller's sale deed.

No developer price applies now; you agree a figure with the owner. Dividing each asking price by the common 2,400 sq ft area makes offers easy to compare side by side. Because the home is complete, a resale carries no GST. You will pay stamp duty and registration on the agreed value. Before you shake hands on a price, get these in writing:

• Agreed price and the car parking bays included
• Transfer fee set by the association
• Maintenance deposit and the current monthly charge
• Any unpaid dues or special levies on the flat
• Stamp duty and registration on the full value
• Repairs or upgrades the flat will need after nine years of use

Purva Whitehall has no RERA registration number published yet. Keys were first given out in March 2017, so the project may predate registration. Ask Puravankara whether it was registered and search the Karnataka RERA website (rera.karnataka.gov.in) to see if an entry exists.

Either way, the purchase closes on a new sale deed between you and the owner. Ask the seller to hand over these papers before any advance changes hands:

• Occupancy certificate for the block
• Seller's registered sale deed and the title chain before it
• Encumbrance certificate proving the flat is free of loans
• Khata in the seller's name and the latest property tax receipt
• No-dues letter from the residents' association
• Loan closure letter, if the seller financed the purchase

Get a property lawyer to review the file and match the approved building plan to the flat. If a bank still holds the seller's original deed, plan for its release on the day of registration. Once the sale deed is registered, transfer the khata, the electricity account and the association membership into your name.

Purva Whitehall is a campus of four 12-floor blocks on 2.7 acres, home to 192 families. That is a tight footprint for buildings of this height, so the blocks stand fairly close together. Flats looking onto the internal gardens usually get more light and a better outlook than those facing the boundary wall. Ask for the site plan and check what your windows face.

With residents here since 2017, you can see the facilities in daily use. A morning might begin with a few rounds of the jogging track, a workout in the gymnasium or a swim in the pool. Children have a play area and landscaped gardens close to home, and the basketball court and other outdoor courts fill up once school is out.

The games room and table tennis cover wet evenings, while the clubhouse and party area host birthdays and small functions. Retail spaces inside the campus take care of quick errands. Fewer households mean shorter waits for the pool and courts. After this many years, look closely at the condition of the courts, pool and lifts, and ask what the maintenance charge covers.