Notes from Abimaan

A ready-to-move flat and an under-construction one can sit on the same street at close to the same rate per square foot. The difference shows up later: in GST, in how long you wait, and in what you can actually inspect before you sign. Price and how you pay Under construction usually quotes a lower headline rate and lets you pay in stages as the building comes up. Ready to move asks for close to the full amount at registration, since there is no construction schedule left to fund. On paper, the under-construction flat looks cheaper. Add the GST it carries and the rent you pay while you wait, and the gap shrinks or disappears. GST: the concrete number An under-construction flat currently attracts five per cent GST, with no input credit passed to the buyer. That rate has moved before, so confirm it for your purchase. A flat with its completion certificate carries none of it: the sale is of a finished property, not a service still being delivered. On the north-facing units at Sapthaswarangal, priced at ₹1,68,95,000, five per cent would have added close to ₹8.45 lakh had the building still been coming up. It is finished and certified, so that amount does not apply. Registration and stamp duty, five per cent plus two per cent, are separate charges either way. Delay is the real risk Approvals, funding and labour push completion dates. Eighteen months can become thirty, and every extra month means rent and EMI at the same time. A ready home removes that. You register and move in, on your own schedule, not the builder’s. If you are paying rent now, that is the number that decides this for you. Where under construction still wins If you have two or three years, want the lowest entry price, and want the newest layout, under construction can work. Two things to check before signing: the builder’s actual delivery record, not their promised one, and the RERA registration certificate itself, not a summary of it. Which one to buy Sapthaswarangal is six 3 BHK homes in Velachery, finished, with the completion certificate in hand: no GST, no wait on approvals. If certainty and an immediate move matter more than saving on the entry price, that settles it. If you can wait two years and want the lower entry point, under construction from a builder with an actual finishing record is the other side of that calculation. What to actually check when you walk through A finished home lets you verify before you pay, so do it properly. Run the taps and check the pressure from the sump and the borewell both. Take the lift to the top floor and back. If a resident already lives there, ask what the building actually does in a heavy monsoon, not what a brochure says it does. Check that the parking allotted to your unit is marked and documented, not promised verbally on a site visit. None of this is possible on a plot that is still a foundation and a hoarding. Frequently asked questions Is it better to buy a ready-to-move or under-construction flat in Chennai? It depends on your timeline. Ready to move, like Sapthaswarangal, lets you register, move in and stop paying rent immediately, with no GST and no delay risk. Under construction suits a buyer with two or more years to spare who wants the lowest entry price and is prepared to verify the builder’s delivery record and RERA registration first. Do you pay GST on a ready-to-move flat? No. Once a flat has its completion certificate, its sale is treated as a completed property and sits outside GST entirely. A flat still under construction currently attracts five per cent GST, with no input credit passed to the buyer, so confirm the current rate before you budget. Is a ready-to-move flat more expensive than an under-construction one? The headline price is often higher because under-construction projects offer a lower entry price with staged payments. The gap narrows once you add the GST an unfinished home carries and the rent you keep paying while you wait, both of which a ready-to-move purchase avoids. What are the risks of buying an under-construction flat? Delay. Approvals, funding and labour can push a promised completion date back by months or years, and you carry rent and EMI together for every one of them. A builder with a consistent record of finishing on time, and a RERA registration you have checked yourself, reduces this risk. Neither removes it. Which is a better investment, ready-to-move or under-construction? Neither, on its own; that depends on the project, the location and the builder. What a ready-to-move home removes is construction and delay risk, since you can inspect the finished building, verify its documents and calculate the full cost before you commit. An under-construction purchase cannot offer that.