Hidden charges in Dholera deals

Nobody lies about the base rate; the base rate is the headline. The engineering happens in the annexure. Here is the annexure, pre-read.

The usual residents of the fine print

PLC (preferred location charges). Corner plots, wider-road frontage, garden-facing positions: legitimate premiums when disclosed upfront, resentments when discovered at allotment. Typical structures price PLC as a percentage over base or a flat per-yard adder.

Development or infrastructure charges. The project's internal roads, drainage, electrification billed separately from the land rate. Ask the only question that matters: what exactly does the base rate buy, and what does this charge buy on top?

Maintenance deposits and advances. A corpus or one to several years of advance maintenance collected at possession. Reasonable in concept; the check is whether the amount, the trigger date and the managing entity are written down.

Legal, documentation and facilitation fees. Deed drafting, processing, sometimes vague "file charges". Some are real services; all must be listed. Registration-day surprises are the least professional charge in the industry.

Government costs. Never hidden but often omitted from mental math: effective stamp duty 4.9 percent plus 1 percent registration in Gujarat, on the framework our stamp duty guide explains. Budget them from day one.

GST. Land itself is outside GST, but bundled development services can attract it depending on structure. If GST appears, ask what service it attaches to; if it does not, confirm in writing it will not appear later.

The comparison discipline

Two projects quoting 8,000 and 8,600 per sq yard can invert once annexures load. Build one column per offer, all-in to registration, and compare only those totals. Our shortlist briefs do this arithmetic for every option, because a comparison that ignores the annexure is a coin toss.