Most people view a property for twenty minutes, twice, and then commit to living in it for a decade. Estate agents show you the view and the fittings. The things that will actually cost you money and irritate you daily are not on that tour.

Here is what to check before buying a flat or floor in Delhi NCR, from the perspective of the people who have to work on it afterwards.

Entrance and drawing room of a Delhi property by Pochē Aesthetics — Twenty minutes is long enough to find most of the problems — if you know where to look.

Paperwork, before anything else

Your lawyer handles this properly, but three items decide what you can later do to the property:

The sanctioned plan. Does what is built match what was approved? Unauthorised additions — an enclosed balcony, an extra room on the terrace — create problems at resale and can attract action. Ask to see it and compare.

The structural drawing. This decides whether you can replan the interior at all. In a framed building most internal partitions can come down with permission; in a shear-wall tower far more of the internal wall area is structural and genuinely cannot be touched. Ask the builder or the society for it.

Terrace and parking rights, in writing. Verbal assurances about the roof are worth nothing later.

Orientation, which you cannot change

Visit at different times if you can, and at minimum work out which way the main rooms face.

East light is the best thing a home can have. North is even and good for a study. West is the problem — a west-facing living room with large glass is uncomfortable from three in the afternoon for four months a year, and the only remedies are shading, better glass and running the air conditioning harder.

Ask which rooms get direct sun in May. A flat that is lovely in January and punishing in June is a common and expensive surprise.

The twenty-minute inspection

Water, which tells you the most

Turn on every tap and run them together. Weak pressure in an older building usually means corroded GI pipes, which is a full replumb
Flush every WC
Look at ceilings in every room, particularly bathroom ceilings and the corners of rooms below bathrooms. Damp patches, bubbling paint or salt bloom at skirting level mean failed waterproofing, which is a strip-back job
Look at the underside of the terrace slab on the top floor
Freshly painted ceiling in only one room is worth asking about directly

Electrical

Open the distribution board. How many circuits, is there an RCD, does it look like it was installed this decade?
Count sockets in each room. Builder provision is usually far short of how people live now
Ask the sanctioned load. Multiple ACs, geysers, induction and a dryer need more than many older floors were given
In anything over twenty years old, assume a full rewire

Structure and surfaces

Put a ball or a marble on the floor in a few rooms. Significant slope means levelling screed later, which costs money and takes ceiling height
Check walls for plumb by eye along a long wall. Large-format tile and slab stone expose out-of-tolerance walls immediately
Diagonal cracks at corners of door and window openings are worth a structural opinion
Tap the walls — hollow sounds where you expected solid tell you about partition construction

Drawing room in a South Delhi residence by Pochē Aesthetics — Ceiling height, light and the plan are the three things you cannot buy later.

Dimensions worth measuring

Floor-to-ceiling height. Under 2.9m, a full false ceiling with services will make rooms feel low. This is the single most under-noticed dimension in a viewing
Kitchen size. Builder kitchens in NCR are consistently undersized. Is there an adjacent utility you could absorb?
Bedroom widths. Under about 3.3m, a king bed makes the room a corridor
The service lift and the stair turn. Measure them. A sofa or stone slab that cannot reach the floor is a real and common problem

The building, not just the flat

Society rules on interior work — working hours, whether Sundays are allowed, NOC process and deposit, debris removal, lift booking. Some societies add weeks to a programme
Water source and hardness. Most of NCR is hard; ask whether there is softener provision
Power backup — shared or individual, and what capacity
Where the AC outdoor units go, and whether there is space and permission for more
Noise. Stand still and listen. Lift machinery, a generator, a main road, a shared wall with a living room. Visit once in the evening
The neighbours above. On a shared building their bathroom is your ceiling

Questions worth asking the seller

When was it last rewired and replumbed?
Has there ever been a leak, and what was done about it?
What was changed from the original plan, and was it approved?
Which rooms get direct sun in summer?
What does the society not allow?

What is cheap to change, and what is not

Easy: finishes, joinery, lighting, paint, flooring. Do not pay a premium for someone else’s taste in these — you are likely to replace them.

Possible but expensive: non-structural walls, kitchen position within limits, bathroom fittings, full rewire and replumb.

Effectively impossible: orientation, ceiling height, structural walls, the position of the plumbing stack, the view, the building’s noise, the society’s rules.

That last list is what you are actually buying. A flat with a poor layout but good bones and good light is a far better purchase than a beautifully finished one facing west with 2.7m ceilings.

Before you commit

If you are serious about a property and plan to work on it, it is worth having a designer or architect walk it with you before you sign. An hour on site tells you what is possible, what the hidden work will involve, and whether the plan you have in your head can actually be built.

We are happy to do that. If you are weighing a property in Delhi NCR, tell us about it. See also what to know about builder floors, what a renovation really involves, and apartment planning in Delhi.

About Pochē Aesthetics
Pochē Aesthetics — also written Poche Aesthetics — is a luxury residential architecture and interior design practice based in Greater Kailash, New Delhi, founded and led by architect Niyati Satsangi. Over more than twelve years the practice has designed private homes — farmhouses, villas, builder floors and apartments — across Delhi NCR and India, handling architecture, interiors, materials, lighting and styling as one connected commission, alongside select restaurant and commercial work. More about the practice.

What to Check Before Buying a Flat in Delhi NCR