Property Types
What is a Gated Community?
You are paying for the clubhouse, the pool and the security. It is worth knowing whether you will ever own them.
The short answer
A gated community is a residential development with controlled access and shared amenities — security, a clubhouse, a pool, a gym, landscaped roads.
You pay for all of it. In the price, and then every month, forever, in maintenance.
And the question almost nobody asks: WHO OWNS IT? Because until conveyance, the clubhouse you paid for may still belong to the builder.
What you get
- Controlled access — a gate, security, visitor management
- Shared amenities — clubhouse, pool, gym, courts, children's play area
- Landscaped common areas and internal roads
- Shared infrastructure — power backup, water treatment, sewage treatment
- Collective maintenance — someone else deals with the pump
- Community — which some people value enormously and others find suffocating
Who owns the amenities? — the question nobody asks
The clubhouse, the pool, the gym, the roads, the park — these are common areas.
They should be conveyed to the owners' association, along with the land, once the project is complete and the association is formed.
Until they are, the BUILDER still owns them.
Which has consequences that are not theoretical:
• The builder may continue to run the clubhouse commercially — charging residents a membership fee for a facility they already paid for in the price of their flat.
• The builder may sell memberships to outsiders.
• The builder may hold unused FSI on the land — and build another tower on the park.
• The association cannot control, repair or improve what it does not own.
• And when the pool needs relining, whose problem is it?
Ask a resident: 'Has conveyance been done?' Not the sales office. A resident.
What it actually costs — and it does not go down
Once, in the price of the flat. The clubhouse, the pool and the landscaping are all in the per-square-foot rate. You paid for them at purchase.
Then again, every month, forever, in the maintenance charge. Which is levied per square foot, and which rises.
A pool costs money to run whether or not you swim. A gym needs equipment replaced. A generator needs diesel. Landscaping needs gardeners. Security is the largest line item in most community budgets, and it never gets cheaper.
Ask for the current maintenance charge, per square foot, and the last three years of it. The trend tells you more than the number.
And ask what happens when the lift needs replacing — a ₹20–40 lakh problem — and whether there is a sinking fund to pay for it. If there isn't, there will be a levy, and it will land on you.
What to check
- HAS CONVEYANCE BEEN DONE? Does the association own the land, the roads and the clubhouse — or does the builder? Ask a resident.
- Is the clubhouse actually free to residents, or is there a separate membership fee? Get it in writing.
- The maintenance charge. Per square foot. And the last three years of it.
- Is there a sinking fund? How much is in it?
- Did the builder hand over the corpus?
- Is there unused FSI? Can the builder build another tower in the park?
- Who manages it — the residents, or a management company appointed by the builder? And can the residents remove them?
- Are the roads handed over to the authority, or are they the community's to maintain forever?
- Water. Borewell, municipal, or tankers? What happens in April?
- Walk it at 8am and at 8pm. Does the security actually check anyone? Does the generator run? Is the pool clean, or green?
Be honest with yourself. The pool, the gym, the amphitheatre, the yoga deck, the pet park, the jogging track, the mini theatre.
You are paying for all of them, every month, forever — whether you use them or not.
Most residents use two or three. And a project with fewer, better-maintained amenities is frequently a better place to live than one with twenty that are all slightly broken.
Go and look at the amenities in a FIVE-YEAR-OLD project by the same builder. That is what yours will look like. It is the most useful hour you can spend.
Frequently asked questions
Who owns the clubhouse in a gated community?
It should be the owners' association — but only once CONVEYANCE has been done. Until then, the builder still owns it. Which means they may continue to run it commercially, charging residents a membership for a facility they already paid for in the price of their flat; they may sell memberships to outsiders; and they may hold unused FSI on the land and build another tower on the park. Ask a resident whether conveyance has been done.
Do I pay for amenities twice?
Effectively, yes. Once in the price of the flat — the clubhouse, pool and landscaping are all in the per-square-foot rate. And then again every month, forever, in the maintenance charge, which is levied per square foot and which rises. A pool costs money to run whether or not you swim.
What should I check about maintenance in a gated community?
The current charge per square foot, and the last three years of it — the trend tells you more than the number. Whether there is a sinking fund, and how much is in it, because a lift replacement is a Rs 20-40 lakh problem and without a fund it becomes a levy on you. And whether the builder actually handed over the corpus.
How do I judge a gated community's amenities?
Go and look at a FIVE-YEAR-OLD project by the same builder. That is what yours will look like. It is the most useful hour you can spend, and almost nobody spends it. Also walk your own project at 8am and 8pm: does security actually check anyone, does the generator run, and is the pool clean or green?
Are more amenities better?
Not necessarily. You pay for every one of them, every month, forever, whether you use them or not — and most residents use two or three. A project with fewer, better-maintained amenities is frequently a better place to live than one with twenty that are all slightly broken.