Twelve Things to Check in a Society Before You Buy a Flat In It

Buyers spend an hour inspecting the flat and four minutes noticing the building. Then they live in the building for a decade.

Do this walk before the second visit.

Water

1. Supply hours. Ask a resident, not the agent. "How many hours a day does water come?" is the single most predictive question about daily quality of life.

2. Source. Corporation supply, borewell, or tankers? A society running on tanker water has an ongoing cost and a vulnerability.

Power

3. Backup. Is there a generator, does it cover the flat or only the lifts and lobby, and what is the running cost?

4. Meter. Individual or through the society? Society-billed electricity is often billed at a higher rate.

The building itself

5. Seepage. Look at ceiling corners, the underside of balconies, and the external walls facing the prevailing rain. Stains that have been painted over are still stains.

6. Lifts. How many, for how many flats, and when was the last servicing? Check the certificate in the lift.

7. The stilt and the basement. Standing water, poor drainage and a smell tell you about the waterproofing.

Money

8. Monthly maintenance. Get the actual number, per square foot or per flat, and what it covers.

9. Sinking fund. Ask whether one exists and roughly how large. A society with lifts due for replacement and no fund is a bill waiting for you.

10. Pending dues on the specific flat. Unpaid maintenance follows the flat in practice, and you will be the one arguing about it.

Governance

11. Is the society registered and is there a functioning managing committee? A dysfunctional committee means nothing gets repaired and everything gets litigated.

12. Any ongoing litigation involving the society or the building — redevelopment disputes especially.

The things you can only learn by standing there

• Noise, at the actual time you would be home
• Parking — is there a real allotted space, or an understanding?
• Security at the gate, in practice rather than on paper
• Whether the common areas are maintained or merely present
• The mobile signal, in the flat

Talk to a resident

Not the secretary. Somebody in the lift, at the gate, in the park. Ask one question:

"If you were buying here again, would you?"

The pause before the answer is the information.

For agents

Doing this walk yourself, before you show the property, means you can answer these questions instead of saying you will check. Buyers notice. It is also how you avoid selling someone into a building you would not live in.