I am buying a liability — Due Diligence

Photo by 𝓴𝓘𝓡𝓚 𝕝𝔸𝕀 on Unsplash

In the previous story, I talked about why I am buying a property (a liability in my point of view). So, if you haven’t checked that, I suggest to check that first. 👇

I am buying a liability

Now, in this story I will be sharing things which I did from my end (The Due Diligence) to make sure that the property I am buying does not cause any troubles or hindrances in the future. I have divided this into two main categories. First is checking on the RERA website and Second is everything else.

Check about the Property on the RERA Website

RERA — Real Estate Regulator Authority is the regulatory authority for any real estate project. I believe that the project should be listed on the RERA website, otherwise I don’t show much interest in that project. The website will change from state to state so everyone will need to check the website of their state. (For Karnataka, it is https://rera.karnataka.gov.in/). These are the following things I check on the RERA website.

1. The property name and builder details are matching with what they are saying — This helps me check whether the project is genuine or not.
2. The property location and plan is matching with what the developers are claiming — This helps me check that I am getting what I am being promised. In my case, the plans were labelled for each plot and I was able to confirm that the plot I am buying is matching in the map of both developer and RERA. Primary reason for this is that the maps given by developers can’t be taken as a single source of truth but the map given to RERA can be because the property will be eventually built according to the RERA map, otherwise the government will not allow the developers to sell it (as in allow for possession of the customers).
3. Go through the property documents uploaded — This includes things like NOC from Electricity company, Water company, Sewage Treatment company, etc. which gives an idea about how the developers have planned for their Utility. It’s good to see a provisional NOC, which means that the utility authority has no problem with the project which means that the chances of getting that utility are high and there (probably) won’t be any cases later.
4. Check existing and ongoing cases with the Developers — Talking about cases, this gives an idea about how to developers are. Any ongoing litigations or cases should ideally be shown here, but this cannot be treated as a single source because there is possibility that the cases are not reported to RERA. But still it is ideal to see zero ongoing cases against the developers or at least this property.

Other Due Diligence

RERA is just one site which I checked while doing my due diligence. These other things might vary from property to property, but this is what I did.

1. Checked the reviews about the property on Google / Mouth shut / Consumer Forums / etc. — This gave me a better idea about the authenticity of the project and honesty of the developers, now obviously not all reviews are genuine so we need to take this with a grain of salt but it helps in making an overall picture about the project and helping in the decision of whether I want to continue with this or not.
2. Submitted an inquiry form with my second number — Actually, I asked my friend to do that for me, but the primary reason was to check the status of the project and also available plots. I wanted to be sure that what my sales executive said to me about the availability of the plots was the same thing another sales executive said to my friend. This gave me confidence that they are not trying to cheat or anything.
3. Checked the property rates of neighboring properties — This is something I generally do, but not in this case because this property was on the outskirts of the city and there are not many properties of the same type which I can use to compare the prices.

So, after checking all these things, I am now happy and have finalized that property. I will be sharing all the next things that happen regarding this property in stories of this series. So, make sure to give me a follow here. If you liked this story then show some love by applauding. This is by no means any sort of advice, I am just sharing my experiences through the medium of these stories. Get it? medium? stories? 😏

Share your thoughts and steps which you took to check your property purchase in the comments. See you in the next one. 👋🏻