Total Environment Van Gogh's Garden

Total Environment Van Gogh's Garden sits at number 47 on Kasturba Cross Road, in the Shanthala Nagar pocket of Ashok Nagar (pincode 560001). Across the road stands the British Council Library, and Lavelle Road runs right beside the plot. For anyone who works in the city's main office district, this is about as close to the desk as a family home in Bangalore can get.

A typical weekend here happens on foot. UB City is roughly a five-minute walk away, and Cubbon Park is close enough for a morning walk without taking the car out. The restaurants and offices on Lavelle Road are next door, and the city's older clubs, hotels and best-known shops are a short drive at most.

The trade-off is traffic and parking. The roads around the centre are slow at rush hour, and finding a spot on the street is hard, so the parking bays inside the gate and the service lift matter a great deal. Before you settle on a home, visit in the morning and again in the evening. Listen for noise from the main road, check which way your terrace faces, and ask the association whether any road works or construction on neighbouring plots are planned.

Total Environment Van Gogh's Garden has sold every home, so the developer no longer quotes a price. What you can buy is an existing home, and owners are asking between Rs. 10 Crore and Rs. 25.2 Crore. The 2015 launch had three layouts. The 3 BHK duplex measured 4,655 sq ft saleable (3,259 sq ft carpet), the 4 BHK single-level home 5,618 sq ft, and the 5 BHK duplex 6,190 sq ft. Owners describe their homes at 3,571 up to 9,046 sq ft, so have the home measured.

For comparison, the launch list put the 3 BHK duplex at Rs. 13.75 Crore, near Rs. 29,500 for each sq ft of saleable area. Compare resale offers on carpet area, since saleable figures vary between sellers. A finished home attracts no GST. You still pay stamp duty and registration on the deed, and at this value you must withhold TDS from the payment. Before you settle on a figure, ask the seller for:

• Carpet and saleable area of the exact home, with its terrace
• What remains of the original fit-out and what has been replaced
• A letter from the association saying nothing is owed
• Any transfer fee, and what maintenance costs each month
• Parking bays that go with the home

Total Environment Van Gogh's Garden will not be found on the Karnataka RERA website (rera.karnataka.gov.in). It launched around 2015 and was handed over in 2017, before registration applied to it. On a resale, a property lawyer's review of the papers is your real safeguard, and it should happen before you pay any token amount.

Ask the seller for these documents first:

• The seller's registered deed and each earlier deed in the chain
• A fresh EC covering this home
• The building's OC
• Sanctioned building plan, to compare with the flat and its terrace
• Khata and recent property tax receipts
• Any loan the seller took against the flat, and how the bank will release it

Terrace gardens and lap pools are central to this design, so check that no terrace has been covered in or built out past what was sanctioned. An unapproved change can create trouble with the khata and with a future sale. At registration, the deed you sign should name you and state your share of the land beneath the building. Then shift the khata, the utility meters and your membership of the association, and collect the original title papers from whoever holds them.

Total Environment Van Gogh's Garden, a five-storey block on a small city plot, steps its homes back so every terrace gets open sky. The land measured close to 0.7 acre, or 30,000 sq ft, according to listings from the launch years. Because the building is finished, you are not buying a render; you can walk the terraces, the pool and the lobby yourself.

Much of daily life here happens inside the home. Mornings can start on your own decked terrace among the planters, and some homes have their own lap pool for an early swim. Owners were handed homes with automation, VRV cooling and a central vacuum, plus kitchens split into dry and wet sides and wardrobes built into the walls.

For the shared side, the ground level holds a swimming pool and landscaped gardens. The amenity list also names a gymnasium, a clubhouse, a spa and sauna, a games room, a home theatre, outdoor courts, a jogging track, a children's play area, a party area and retail spaces. Confirm on a visit which of these are in use today, since a small building may run fewer of them than planned. With so few owners sharing the costs, ask the association for the monthly maintenance and the balance in the sinking fund.