Booked a Flat in Bangalore? Documents, Money, Site and Handover Explained
What follows a flat booking in Bangalore decides whether the purchase runs smoothly or turns stressful. Four threads run side by side: documents, money, the construction site and the final handover. This guide takes each in turn so that a buyer knows what to expect between the booking amount and the keys.
Thread One: The Documents, in Order
Five papers mark the journey, and each comes at a different point.
- The allotment letter, soon after the booking amount
- The registered agreement for sale
- The occupancy certificate, once the building is complete
- The registered sale deed
- Records of khata, electricity and the owners' association in the buyer's name
The allotment letter
Think of this as a receipt for the flat itself. It identifies the unit by number, floor and tower, and states carpet area, parking and total price, all of which must tally with the figures quoted at the sales office. Reading it on arrival is the cheapest way to catch a mistake.
India's 2016 real estate law, RERA, stops a builder from collecting more than 10% of the flat's cost until a registered agreement for sale exists; the relevant provision is Section 13. Buyers may also ask for the approved plans, the layout, the specifications and a completion timetable stage by stage, and copies should be filed.
The agreement for sale
RERA requires this contract to record when each payment is due, when possession will be given and what interest each party pays on default. Three points need verifying before signing.
The figures must agree with the allotment letter and cost sheet. The possession date must agree with the one the builder has declared with the state RERA authority. And the payment plan should follow milestones, without heavy early payments.
The agreement is signed and registered before the sub-registrar, who also collects stamp duty and the registration fee. Lenders ask for the registered copy before releasing any money. The original must stay safe, because any later dispute over cost, size or delay is settled by reading it.
The occupancy certificate and the sale deed
An occupancy certificate (OC) tells owners that the authority regards the building as finished and habitable. Obtaining one is a builder's obligation, and a buyer should request a copy naming the right tower. The sale deed follows and is the paper that actually moves ownership to the buyer, so the names, the car park, the carpet area and the share of land must be exact. A lender holding the original deed during the loan makes certified copies necessary.
Thread Two: The Money
Money moves in two ways after booking, through the loan and through costs that arrive late.
How loan money flows
For a building still going up, a home loan is paid out in parts: a demand letter arrives whenever a milestone is reached, and the bank releases its portion on confirming that stage. A buyer's own contribution generally goes in ahead of the bank's.
The two schedules should be lined up at sanction. Hand the lender the payment plan in the agreement and ask how long it takes to act on a demand. RERA holds buyers to the agreed dates and charges interest on late payments, so a lag at the bank turns into the buyer's expense.
Interest accrues on the amount released, beginning with the first payout. Most lenders allow a choice: pay interest alone until possession, or begin the complete EMI immediately. The EMI calculator gives the instalment on the whole loan, which helps with months when rent and loan payments fall together.
Costs that arrive late
Several payments come near the end and are usually met from savings. Stamp duty on a flat above Rs. 45 Lakhs is 5%, which becomes 5.6% with cess and surcharge, and registration costs 2%. GST applies to instalments paid during construction.
Other items are connection deposits for electricity and water, maintenance paid in advance, the corpus (sinking) fund, legal fees, and interiors, appliances and moving. On a Rs. 1 Crore flat, duty plus registration is near Rs. 7.6 Lakhs. Whatever duty was paid on the agreement gets credited at the sale deed stage, so its receipt matters. Half a year before handover, the builder should provide one statement listing all pending charges.
One folder for everything
Demand letters, payment receipts, the bank's disbursement advices and loan statements belong together, in print and as scans. If tax has to be deducted when paying the builder, those challans go in the same place. The folder saves effort at registration and again at resale.
Thread Three: The Site
Each quarter, the builder must update the project's page on the state RERA portal. The page carries the project's status, how many flats are booked, plus the approvals that have arrived. A few minutes spent on it every three months reveal whether the builder is meeting the promised timetable.
Site visits show what the portal cannot, such as pace, the number of workers and the quality of the work. Taking a photograph from one spot on every visit builds a record. Demand letters should be tested on site too. Money for the tenth-floor slab is due only after it has been cast, which the lender's engineer usually confirms, and any early billing deserves a question put to the builder in writing.
If the possession date in the agreement is missed, Section 18 of RERA lets a buyer withdraw and receive a refund with interest. A buyer who chooses to stay is owed interest for every delayed month up to possession, at the rate given in the state's rules.
Thread Four: Handover
Owners are expected to collect possession two months after the OC is issued for their flat. The builder must also register the conveyance deed, and three months from the OC are allowed by default. Before accepting anything, the flat needs an inspection.
An inspection covers bathrooms, plumbing, electrical points, windows, doors, flooring and walls, along with a check of room sizes against the carpet area agreed. Any defects go to the builder as a written list, and the buyer keeps a signed copy.
Square up the accounts before signing for possession. A closing statement should show payments received, charges and interest owing in either direction, and possession is best accepted when the certificate, deed and keys are with the buyer.
The builder stays responsible afterwards. Section 14 of RERA says structural or workmanship defects found in the first five years after possession must be put right within 30 days, at no cost to the owner. Written reports with photographs that carry dates are the safest way to raise them.
After the Keys
Owners then need the khata, the first property tax payment, a transferred electricity connection and association membership. Copies of the whole file belong in two places. For questions about a specific project, our team can be reached through the contact page.
