Things to Know Before Buying a Flat in Bangalore: 100 Tips

Short answer: The things to know before buying a flat in Bengaluru fall into eight stages: budget, RERA, legal and khata, area, booking, registration, ownership, and NRI or tax. Three to start with: government charges are about 7.6% on resale and flats above ₹45 lakh, builders can't take over 10% before a registered agreement, and registration needs an e-Khata.

Key takeaways

Your own cash is more than the down payment. On an illustrative ₹80 lakh resale flat it's ₹22.08 lakh before interiors, because banks can't lend the stamp duty or registration.
The token is where your leverage ends. Do the legal, RERA and khata checks first.
Several rules changed in 2025–26: the 2% registration fee, the GBA surcharge, e-Aasthi 2.0, the 5% B-Khata conversion fee, size-based lake buffers and the Income-tax Act 2025.
Items marked ★ are deal-breakers. If one fails, money doesn't move.
Use the stage-gate rule (below) to decide when to pay each rupee.

Table of contents

How should you use this list?
The stage-gate rule: when should each rupee move? (our framework)
Budget and costs: what will the flat really cost? (items 1–15)
RERA and builder checks: is the project safe to book? (items 16–35)
Legal documents and khata: is the title clean? (items 36–55)
Area checks: water, flood and your city corporation (items 56–70)
Booking and agreement: what should you sign? (items 71–80)
Registration: what happens at the sub-registrar? (items 81–88)
After you buy: what are your rights? (items 89–95)
NRI buyers, plots and tax (items 96–100)
What mistakes do buyers make most often?
What should you do if...
Your one-page checklist
Frequently asked questions
Talk it through with acre&key
Sources

Most "things to check" lists stop at 10 or 25 tips, skip the sources and still quote old fees. This one is longer on purpose. Each item is one line you can act on, grouped by when it matters, with the official source or a deeper acre&key guide behind it. Skim to your stage and work down.

How should you use this list?

Find your stage, read every ★ item in it, and don't pay the next amount until those are cleared. The rest are worth knowing but won't usually stop a purchase. Numbers are checked against official sources as of 19 Oct 2026; news reports are labelled.

For the purchase in sequence, see how to buy a flat in Bengaluru, step by step. If you're buying your first home, start with our first-time home buyer guide, then come back here.

The stage-gate rule: when should each rupee move? (our framework)

Every payment you make sits behind a gate. A gate opens only when all the ★ items before it are cleared.

Gate	Payment it unlocks	★ items to clear first
Gate 1	Token or booking amount	1, 16, 17, 36, 37, 41, 45, 54, 60
Gate 2	Up to 10% and signing the agreement	39, 43, 47, 50, 71, 72, 74
Gate 3	Loan disbursal and the balance	8, 52
Gate 4	Registration and keys	81, 84, 89, 90

The common mistake is opening gates out of order because the builder's offer "ends Sunday". An offer that ends Sunday will come back. A broken title won't fix itself.

Budget and costs: what will the flat really cost? (items 1–15)

★ Government charges are about 7.6% of value on a resale flat or a new one above ₹45 lakh: 5% stamp duty, a 10% cess and 2% surcharge on that duty, and a 2% registration fee (Karnataka Stamp Act; IGR fee table).
First-sale flats from a builder pay less duty: 2% up to ₹20 lakh and 3% from ₹20 to ₹45 lakh, which makes the total 4.24% or 5.36%; try the stamp duty and registration calculator (Act 26 of 2021).
Those lower slabs don't apply to resale, whatever the price.
The registration fee doubled to 2% from 31 Aug 2025, so older cost articles that say 1% are out of date (IGR fee table).
The 2% surcharge comes from the Greater Bengaluru Governance Act (s.170) and is charged on the duty, not on the price (GBG Act).
Duty is charged on the market value, and the guidance value is the floor, so ask what the guidance value is for the property before you agree a price.
The guidance values in force are from 1 Oct 2023. A revision has been reported in the news but not notified, so recheck before you register. Our property rates by area table has the current figures.
★ Banks can't lend you stamp duty or registration on a home above ₹10 lakh; that cash comes from you (RBI Master Circular).
RBI caps the loan at 90% up to ₹30 lakh, 80% from ₹30 to ₹75 lakh and 75% above (same circular); see how much down payment you need.
GST on an under-construction flat is 5%, or 1% for an affordable flat (carpet up to 60 sq m and price up to ₹45 lakh) (GST Council FAQ).
No GST applies if the whole price is paid after the completion certificate or first occupation, which is why ready flats carry none.
A home loan mortgage deed (MODT) costs 0.5% of the loan in stamp duty (Act 4 of 2024).
TDS of 1% applies when the price or stamp duty value is ₹50 lakh or more. You deduct it from the seller's payment and file Form 141 under s.393 of the Income-tax Act 2025 (Income Tax Department); our TDS on flat purchase answer has the steps.
Budget for the costs nobody quotes in the ad: advance maintenance, corpus or sinking fund, parking, club, khata transfer and interiors.
Stress-test your EMI at 2 percentage points above today's rate. The RBI raised the repo rate to 5.50% on 7 Oct 2026, so rates can move both ways (RBI policy statement). Whether now is a good moment is in is it a good time to buy in Bengaluru?.

The full line-by-line breakdown is in our guide to the full cost of a Bengaluru flat.

Worked example 1: the cash you need for an ₹80 lakh resale flat

Illustrative, assuming the price is at or above the guidance value.

Item	Working	Amount
Loan (80% cap, as the loan falls in ₹30–75 lakh)	80% × ₹80,00,000	₹64,00,000
Down payment	20%	₹16,00,000
Stamp duty	5%	₹4,00,000
Cess (10% of duty)		₹40,000
GBA surcharge (2% of duty)		₹8,000
Registration fee	2%	₹1,60,000
Your own cash before MODT, interiors and moving		₹22,08,000 (27.6%)

The ₹80,000 TDS isn't extra. You pay it to the government instead of to the seller.

Now the stress test from item 15. On the ₹64 lakh loan over 20 years, the EMI is ₹55,541 at an assumed 8.5% and ₹63,896 at 10.5%: ₹8,355 a month more. If the higher figure would break your budget, borrow less.

RERA and builder checks: is the project safe to book? (items 16–35)

★ Look the project up on the K-RERA project search by name, promoter or registration number before you pay anything.
★ Projects need RERA registration unless they're exempt: land of 500 sq m or less, eight apartments or fewer across all phases, a completion certificate received before the Act, or renovation with no new sale (MoHUA RERA FAQ).
Match the promoter, project name and phase in the brochure with the RERA record; a different phase can mean a different completion date.
Note the completion date declared on RERA, not the one the sales team says out loud.
Download the title documents the promoter uploaded. The Karnataka RERA Rules require the title deed, an advocate's title search report and a 12-year EC (K-RERA Rules).
Check whether there's a joint development agreement, which means the landowner also has rights in the project.
Look at the promoter's quarterly updates on RERA and check whether they're current.
Search the Authority's published orders for the promoter's name.
Confirm any agent selling to you is RERA-registered.
The builder can't take more than 10% of the price as an advance or application fee before a written, registered agreement for sale (RERA s.13(1), MoHUA FAQ).
If possession is delayed, you can withdraw for a full refund with interest and compensation, or stay and take interest for every month of delay (RERA s.18, MoHUA FAQ); see delayed possession: refund vs interest.
The interest rate in Karnataka is SBI's highest MCLR plus 2%, and it applies both ways, to late buyers too (K-RERA Rules r.16).
A refund due to you is payable within 60 days of the date it becomes due (K-RERA Rules r.17).
Under RERA, carpet area is the net usable floor area of the flat, so ask for it in writing.
Super built-up area includes common areas; compare flats on carpet area, not SBUA (carpet vs super built-up).
Read the payment plan. A construction-linked plan ties payments to stages you can check; a time-linked plan doesn't.
Visit a completed project by the same builder and talk to residents about handover and defects.
Ask who maintains the building after handover and what the association will inherit.
Check the specification list is part of the agreement, not just the brochure.
Keep every receipt and email. Under RERA, records win disputes.

Our step-by-step guide to checking any project on RERA Karnataka shows each screen.

Legal documents and khata: is the title clean? (items 36–55)

★ Get the full chain of title back to the mother deed, not just the seller's deed.
★ Pull the encumbrance certificate yourself on Kaveri. EC applications are fully digital with an e-sign (IGR).
The EC should cover the whole chain back to conversion, which can be well over 12 years on an older property.
★ Every registered sale on the deeds should appear on the EC, and every EC entry should be explained.
An EC shows only registered documents, so it won't show unregistered agreements or court cases.
★ Check the RTC (pahani) on Bhoomi for the survey number, owner and land use.
Agricultural land must be converted for residential use under the Karnataka Land Revenue Act, 1964 (e-Swathu FAQ).
★ Match the conversion order's survey number and extent with the deeds and the project's land.
e-Khata has been needed for registration since 30 Sep 2024, according to the Revenue Minister (The Hindu, news).
★ Look the property up on e-Aasthi 2.0 at GBAeAasthi.karnataka.gov.in, launched on 22 Sep 2026, and check the owner's name and property ID (The Hindu, news).
Check whether the e-Khata is draft or final. At launch about 11 lakh of more than 35 lakh properties had a final e-Khata (same report).
★ Confirm property tax is paid to date on the property tax portal, and that the property ID matches.
In panchayat areas, the record is Form 9 or Form 11 on e-Swathu (e-Swathu FAQ).
Converting a B-Khata to A-Khata costs 5% of guidance value for applications from 24 Aug 2026 (GBA).
★ Get the sanctioned plan and check the building matches it: floors, units, setbacks and parking.
Check the plan was approved by the right authority. BMRDA lists 12 planning authorities around the city, from BDA to BIAAPA near the airport (BMRDA).
★ Ask for the occupancy certificate on any building called "ready" (OC and CC explained).
OC and CC aren't the same. The OC says the building is fit to occupy with water, sanitation and power; the CC says the project was built to the sanctioned plan (MoHUA FAQ).
★ Search eCourts and the High Court for the property, survey number and every owner's name (eCourts).
Get a property lawyer's written title opinion and read its conditions, not just its conclusion.

The order to run these in is in property legal checks, from title to OC, and the khata types are explained in A-Khata vs B-Khata vs e-Khata.

Area checks: water, flood and your city corporation (items 56–70)

Bengaluru is now run by the Greater Bengaluru Authority and five city corporations: Central, North, South, East and West, with 369 wards; see what the GBA means for buyers (The Hindu, news).
Find your ward on the GBA GIS viewer. There's no official pin-code-to-ward table, so use our ward and corporation lookup.
Ask whether the building has a BWSSB connection or relies on borewells and tankers.
Cauvery Stage 5 brought piped water to 110 villages on the city's edge from October 2024 (The Hindu, news).
★ Being in a Cauvery Stage 5 village isn't the same as being connected. About 1.15 lakh of an estimated 1.8 lakh buildings were connected by May 2026 (The Hindu, news).
Ask who pays any pro-rata or beneficiary charge for a new water connection, and get it in the agreement.
Ask residents what they spend on tankers in summer, not the builder.
Check whether the building has an OC. After a Supreme Court direction, water, power and sanitation connections need an OC or CC (The Hindu, news).
KSNDMC maintains the official flood-vulnerable areas for the city on its Varunamitra portal.
Lake buffers became size-based in 2026: 0 m for the smallest tanks up to 30 m above 100 acres, measured from the revenue boundary (Act 19 of 2026).
The NGT has taken suo motu notice of the new lake rule, so it could change (Times of India, news).
Stormwater drain buffers are 50 m, 25 m and 15 m for primary, secondary and tertiary drains under RMP-2015, as cited by the Supreme Court in 2019 (judgment).
Visit after heavy rain and look at the road, the basement and the approach.
Drive the commute at peak hour on a weekday, both ways.
Treat any metro line as real only from the day it opens, and price the flat for today's commute (metro line status).

More on water in our Cauvery Stage 5 coverage guide, and on flooding in the flood-prone areas map.

Booking and agreement: what should you sign? (items 71–80)

★ Read the booking form before you pay the token and look for forfeiture and cancellation terms.
★ Insist on a written, registered agreement for sale before paying beyond 10%.
Agreement stamp duty is 0.5% (minimum ₹500) when possession isn't given, and it's adjusted against the sale deed later (Act 4 of 2024).
★ The agreement should name the flat, carpet area, price, payment schedule, completion date and specifications.
Check the cancellation clause for how much you lose if you pull out, and how fast you're refunded.
Check the delay clause matches RERA, not a lower builder rate.
Make every payment by bank transfer to the account named in the agreement or RERA record.
Never pay cash you can't show on paper.
Get the token receipt on letterhead with the flat number and amount.
Have your lawyer read the agreement before you sign, not after.

Worked example 2: a ₹40 lakh first-sale, under-construction flat

Illustrative. Carpet area 55 sq m, price ₹40 lakh, so it counts as affordable for GST.

Item	Working	Amount
Most you can pay before a registered agreement	10% × ₹40,00,000	₹4,00,000
Agreement stamp duty (adjusted later)	0.5%	₹20,000
GST	1%	₹40,000
Stamp duty on the sale deed	3%	₹1,20,000
Cess and surcharge	10% + 2% of duty	₹14,400
Registration fee	2%	₹80,000
Government charges and GST		₹2,54,400 (6.36%)

The same flat as a resale above ₹45 lakh would be at 7.6% with no GST. The slab, the GST rate and the 10% cap together decide the cash you need, and when.

Our before-you-pay-the-token checklist has every booking-form clause to look for, and the booking form red flags answer covers the worst ones.

Registration: what happens at the sub-registrar? (items 81–88)

★ Get a fresh EC just before registration to make sure nothing new has been registered.
Registration runs on Kaveri 2.0: online data entry, a check by the sub-registrar, online payment, a slot, then a visit for photos and thumbprints (IGR Kaveri 2.0 FAQs); see registering on Kaveri 2.0.
Pay stamp duty and fees online through Kaveri, not to anyone in person.
★ Check the draft deed for names, the flat, the undivided share of land and the price.
Check which IDs and witnesses your sub-registrar needs and bring originals on the day.
File the TDS return (Form 141) and give the seller the TDS certificate on time.
Collect the registered deed and keep certified copies.
Update the e-Khata into your name after registration.

After you buy: what are your rights? (items 89–95)

★ Don't take possession without the OC and confirm water and power are connected.
★ Do a snag list at handover in writing, with photos.
The builder is liable for structural and certain other defects for five years from handover, and must fix a reported defect within 30 days or compensate you (RERA s.14, MoHUA FAQ).
Report defects in writing, even if you've told someone on site.
Pay property tax each year on the portal and keep receipts.
Join or form the association and ask for the building's documents to be handed over.
Keep a file of every document for the day you sell.

NRI buyers, plots and tax (items 96–100)

NRIs and OCIs can buy any home except agricultural land, a farmhouse or a plantation, and can inherit any property (RBI FAQ).
Plots need extra checks: layout approval from the right planning authority, conversion and a release of sites (buying a plot in Bengaluru).
A property held more than 24 months is long-term for capital gains (Income Tax Department).
Long-term gains on property sold from 23 Jul 2024 are taxed at 12.5% without indexation (same page).
The Income-tax Act 2025 replaced the 1961 Act from 1 Apr 2026, so section numbers in older guides have changed (PIB).

NRIs should read our NRI guide to buying in Bengaluru for FEMA, power of attorney and repatriation.

What mistakes do buyers make most often?

Paying the token on the first visit. It's the hardest money to get back.
Budgeting for the down payment only. Duty and registration come out of your pocket.
Comparing flats on super built-up area. Carpet area tells you what you live in.
Assuming a Cauvery village means piped water. Ask for the connection.
Using the old 1% registration fee or 30 m lake rule. Both changed.
Taking possession before the OC. Utilities may not be connected.

What should you do if...

...the builder wants more than 10% before the agreement? Don't pay. Ask for the registered agreement first (item 25).

...the e-Khata is still a draft? Ask the seller to get it finalised on e-Aasthi 2.0 before registration.

...possession is late? Decide between a refund and monthly interest under RERA s.18; our answer on cancelling a booking and getting a refund walks through it.

...a ★ item fails? Stop. Don't let a deadline move you past a gate.

Your one-page checklist

[ ] Project found on K-RERA, or exemption confirmed
[ ] Own cash worked out: down payment plus 7.6% (or the first-sale rate) plus GST
[ ] EMI tested at 2 points higher
[ ] Title chain, EC, RTC and conversion order checked by a lawyer
[ ] e-Khata found, tax paid, property ID matched
[ ] Plan matches the building; OC for a ready flat
[ ] Water connection and flood risk checked; lake and drain buffers cleared
[ ] Booking form read; nothing over 10% before a registered agreement
[ ] Fresh EC before registration; TDS filed
[ ] Snag list at handover; e-Khata moved to your name

Frequently asked questions

What should I check before booking a flat in Bengaluru?

Start with five checks: the project's RERA registration, the title chain and encumbrance certificate, the e-Khata and tax record, the occupancy certificate for a ready flat, and the booking form's cancellation terms. Do all five before you pay a token, because the token is where your negotiating power ends.

How much extra does buying a flat cost beyond the price?

For a resale flat or a new one above ₹45 lakh, government charges are about 7.6%: 5% stamp duty, cess and surcharge on that duty, and a 2% registration fee. First-sale flats up to ₹45 lakh pay 4.24% or 5.36%. Under-construction flats add 5% GST, or 1% if affordable.

Is RERA registration compulsory for every project?

No. A project doesn't need RERA registration if the land is 500 sq m or less, it has eight apartments or fewer across all phases, it got a completion certificate before the Act, or it's a renovation with no new sale. Every other project being sold needs it.

How much can a builder take before the agreement?

No more than 10% of the price as an advance or application fee, under RERA section 13(1), until a written agreement for sale is signed and registered. On an illustrative ₹40 lakh flat, that's ₹4 lakh. If a builder asks for more, ask for the registered agreement first.

Is e-Khata mandatory to register a property in Bengaluru?

Yes. The Revenue Minister said registration needs an e-Khata from 30 September 2024. In city areas, you check it on e-Aasthi 2.0, launched on 22 September 2026; in panchayat areas, on e-Swathu. Many e-Khatas are still drafts, so check its status.

Can an NRI buy a flat in Bengaluru?

Yes. Under the RBI's rules, NRIs and OCIs can buy residential and commercial property in India, but not agricultural land, a farmhouse or a plantation. They can inherit any property. Payment must come through normal banking channels, and TDS rules differ when the seller is an NRI.

When does a flat become a long-term asset for tax?

When you've held it for more than 24 months. Long-term gains on property sold from 23 July 2024 are taxed at 12.5% without indexation, according to the Income Tax Department. Section numbers changed when the Income-tax Act 2025 came into force on 1 April 2026.

What is the biggest mistake first-time buyers make?

Paying the token before checking anything. Many buyers then find a title gap, a draft khata or no OC, and the token is hard to recover. The second is budgeting only for the down payment, when stamp duty and registration must come from your own savings.

Talk it through with acre&key

If you'd like a second pair of eyes on any of these 100 before you pay, book a consultation with acre&key.

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Lawyer note: The legal points on this page are general information, not legal advice. Consult a property lawyer before paying, signing or registering.

CA note: Tax points (TDS, GST, capital gains and Income-tax Act 2025 sections) are general information. Check with a chartered accountant for your situation.