What to check before buying a showroom or SCO in Punjab

What should you check before buying a showroom or SCO in Punjab?

Before buying a showroom or SCO in Punjab, check eight things: road frontage in feet, floor position and access, the brands already trading on site, the total unit count, parking, power backup, the payment schedule, and the RERA or PUDA approval. Get all eight in writing before you pay a booking amount.

Ticket sizes across the five commercial projects Punjab Roots Realty represents run from about Rs 25 L for a showroom at Arcadiaa Enclave on the Mansa-Barnala Road to Rs 1.30 Cr at The Rise Brand Avenue in Gharuan. Pushpa Square in Bathinda and Maya Garden Trillium near Patiala both open near Rs 1.00 Cr, and Star Street in Kharar near Rs 36 L. These are the developers' starting rates as currently listed, so ask us for the live rate on the specific unit.

One point on wording. None of these five is a plotted SCO of the kind allotted in Chandigarh or Mohali sectors. They are showrooms and retail units inside a developer's building, so the SCO notes below are general background rather than a description of our inventory.

• Road frontage of the project and of your unit
• Floor, front width, and which lift or stair reaches it
• Anchor brands: already trading, or only in discussion
• Sanctioned unit count, and how many the developer holds
• Customer parking in the sanctioned plan, not the render
• Backup load per unit and how running charges are billed
• Payment schedule, and what all-inclusive leaves out
• RERA number, PUDA approval, CLU and title chain

Why does road frontage decide what a showroom is worth?

Road frontage is the width of the project's face along the main road, measured in feet, and it sets how many vehicles pass your signboard. Pushpa Square is listed with 85 ft on the Bathinda Ring Road. Maya Garden Trillium has 400 ft on NH-7 at Sainsarwal. The commercial row at Arcadiaa Enclave has about 350 ft on the Mansa-Barnala Road.

Project frontage and unit frontage are different numbers. A 400-ft high street can still hold a unit with 15 ft of front width behind a pillar, so ask for your unit's front width and its place on the elevation. On a highway, check the median and the service lane, since traffic may reach you from one direction only.

In Punjab the sale deed is often written in marla or gaj, particularly for plots, while brochures quote square feet. For a showroom inside a developer's building you are usually buying a built-up or super area in square feet plus an undivided share in the land, so read what the deed actually conveys. One marla is 30.25 sq yd, or 272.25 sq ft, and one gaj is one sq yd. Confirm which unit the quoted rate applies to.

Which floor should you buy, and how will customers reach it?

Ground floor units usually cost the most because a customer walks straight in. Not every project sells one on those terms: Pushpa Square is planned as 50 retail units across floors 1 to 5, so ask the developer how the floors are numbered and which level sits at road level. At Arcadiaa Enclave in Mansa the showroom row sits on the first and second floors. On any upper floor, ask which staircase, lift or escalator serves your unit.

Upper floors are a different buy. Ground floor suits food, apparel, mobile and bank branches. First and second floors suit clinics, salons, gyms, coaching centres and offices, which is why showroom tickets at Arcadiaa Enclave start near Rs 25 L, against about Rs 55 L for a residential plot in the same enclave. Before booking, get the ceiling height, whether the quoted area is carpet or super area, your signage rights on the facade, and the distance to the lift.

What do anchor brands like Domino's and Adidas actually tell you?

An anchor brand tells you a national company's site team studied the same catchment and committed to it. At Maya Garden Trillium on NH-7, Domino's, Subway, Bikanervala, Carl's Jr., Adidas, Modern Bazaar and Fun City are associated with the project. At Arcadiaa Enclave in Mansa, KFC and Domino's are listed by the developer as confirmed, and the project has not opened, so treat that as a stated commitment rather than a trading store.

That gap between confirmed and trading is what to interrogate. Ask which stage each brand is at: in discussion, letter of intent, agreement executed, fit-out started, or open and trading, and ask for it in writing rather than as a logo on a brochure. Ask where it sits as well, because a food chain on the ground floor does not automatically carry customers to a third-floor office.

Does a project with 30 showrooms behave differently from one with 50?

Yes. Unit count sets how many other owners you sit beside when you come to lease or sell. Arcadiaa Enclave in Mansa is capped at 30 showrooms serving a 172-plot colony and the Grand Mall next door. Pushpa Square in Bathinda is planned as 50 units on 3 acres, in a much larger market.

Treat a small unit count as a fact about the layout, not a promise about future price or rent. Ask whether the sanctioned layout shows the same number of units as the brochure, because a count can rise if the developer subdivides. Ask as well how many units the developer is retaining, because a large retained block leaves one owner setting the tone for the whole row.

What should you check about parking, power backup and maintenance?

Ask for the customer parking count in the sanctioned plan rather than the brochure render. Pushpa Square and Maya Garden Trillium are both listed with 24x7 power backup and CCTV, and The Rise Brand Avenue in Gharuan is marketed on ample parking, which is a brochure phrase and not a number. Get the parking count, the backup load per unit and the maintenance rate in writing.

On power, what matters is the load allotted to your unit and whether generator charges are metered or shared flat. A clinic or a food outlet with a cold room needs more than an office, and adding load after possession is expensive. On maintenance, ask the monthly rate per sq ft, whether it escalates, and who runs the owners association once the developer steps back.

How are showroom payment plans structured in Punjab?

Most plans here are construction-linked or time-linked. Arcadiaa Enclave in Mansa uses a simple structure of 25 percent in four instalments, with the final instalment at registry. Ask for the schedule inside the buyer agreement rather than on WhatsApp, and check what happens to your money if possession is delayed.

Read what all-inclusive means on your quote. All five are quoted as starting prices; Pushpa Square and the Arcadiaa showrooms are additionally described as all inclusive, the other three are not. Stamp duty and registration charges are paid at registry and normally sit outside the quoted figure, and GST can apply on an under-construction commercial unit.

Tax deducted at source is a separate step and depends on who is selling. On a purchase from a resident seller where the consideration is Rs 50 lakh or more, the buyer is generally required to deduct tax at source and deposit it. Where the seller is a non-resident, a different provision of the Income-tax Act applies, with different rates, no Rs 50 lakh floor and a TAN requirement for the buyer. Thresholds, rates and procedure change and the answer depends on your facts, so confirm with a chartered accountant before you release an instalment.

How do you verify RERA, PUDA approval and land use before you pay?

Ask for the registration number and check it yourself. Pushpa Square carries Punjab RERA registration PBRERA-BTI08-PC0390, which you can search on the Punjab RERA portal. Arcadiaa Enclave is described as PUDA approved, which is a layout approval from the development authority and not the same thing as a RERA registration.

Under the Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act, 2016, a project over the notified size has to be registered with the state authority before it is advertised, marketed or sold. The Act's broad test is land above 500 sq m or more than eight units, with exemptions and detail set by state rules and notifications, so check the current Punjab position rather than assuming it. Where a project carries no number, ask why and get the answer in writing. Then ask for the sanctioned plan showing your exact unit, the change of land use order where the land was agricultural, the title chain, and finished projects by the developer you can visit.

This guide is general information and not legal or tax advice. Approvals, stamp duty, GST and income tax rules change, so confirm the current position with a qualified professional before you transact. For the frontage, approvals and payment schedule of any of these five projects, call the Bathinda office on +91 97795 07330.