Residential Apartments

A Residential apartment or simply apartment is a self-contained housing unit that occupies only a part of a big building. It may consists of a single bedroom, double bedroom or even more. In most of the commonwealth countries, the term 'flat' is used to describe apartments.

The apartment culture has been in the metros and top cities but now it is flourishing in the small and emerging towns. The emergence of the concept of nuclear families has driven this trend. The residents of the apartments have the advantage of community living and other lifestyle facilities, like club-house, swimming pool, gymnasium etc.

Types of Apartments
Apartments can be classified on the basis of size. Studio Apartments, Efficiency, Bedsit and Bachelor style apartments, designed specially for rent purpose, are the smallest size apartments with the lowest rents in a given area. They generally consist of a large room which is the combined living, dining, and bedroom. The kitchen facility is combined with this central room, but the bathroom remains as a separate room.

Apart from these small sized apartments there are one bedroom, two-bedroom, three-bedroom, etc apartments. In one bedroom apartments, one bedroom is a separate room from the rest of the apartment. In bigger sized apartments, there are separate kitchens, dining spaces, living rooms, etc. Small apartments often have only one entrance/exit while large apartments often have two entrances/exits. Depending on location, apartments may be available for rent. The apartments used for this purpose may be furnished or unfurnished.

Factors to Consider Before Buying
Buying an apartment requires you to look in for a lot of searching, examining, etc in order to decide which suits you the most. It must fulfill your needs and requirements. We are giving here some recommendations to follow, which are helpful in purchasing an apartment.

Common Issues
The common concerns of apartment dwellers include:

• Parking Facility: Parking is one of the must have facilities in an apartment. There should be sufficient space to park your cars, bikes, and cycles. There should be proper security for the safety of cars. Be sure that whether you will have to pay extra charges for it or not? Is there any security cameras provided to guard the strangers?
  
  
• Water Supply: The water supply facility should be well maintained and the quality of water provided should be good and pure. As it is directly linked to your family health, don't hesitate at all to enquire the quality of water. You should also see that whether the water supply is totally dependent on the municipal/community supply or they have their own supply facility. Whatever the case, it is always preferable to go for those areas where there is 24 hours water supply.
  
  
• Power Facility: The power supply in the apartments should be well equipped and have proper safety. You should enquire that power back-up facility is available or not.
  
  
• Lift System: The lift system should be reliable and modernized. There should be enough lifts to cope with the flow of people at busy times. Here also, there must be a generator or power back-up facility to support the lift movement in case of any power failure.
  
  
• Maintenance of Common Areas: Find out who will be responsible for maintenance of the common areas. Is there an active body corporate or is there a permanent building manager on-site or on-call at all times? How much body corporate fees you will have to pay?
  
  
• Accessibility: Your apartment building should be easily accessible to the shops, cafes, nightclubs, and other such amenities. But remember too much closeness can lead to noise problems as well.

Personal Preferences

• There are some personal preferences, which a person wants in his new apartment.
  
  
• Does it have a view and sunlight or is it blocked by other buildings or is it facing the wrong way from the sun?
  
  
• You must find out if there are any pending resource consents that will probably affect your apartment block in future, for example, plans to build a high-rise hotel next door.
  
  
• Is there a balcony so that you can enjoy the view or afternoon sunshine?
  
  
• Are there other facilities in the complex, like a gym and swimming pool?
  
  
• You must enquire about your neighbours and find out if noise could be a problem. Are the near-by apartments rented? If so, do the renters constantly change? These type of neighbours could pose a problem.

Inspect The Developer
Most of the apartments are developed by developers so it will be handy to check the background of the developer, the builder, the designer, and the architect. You should check if there have been any problems with their other developments in past. The financial position of the developer should be strong so that he could complete the project on time if the project is under construction. Find out that the developer has the essential resource and building consents before paying anything.

Legal Aspects
Before buying an apartment carefully examine all types of legal documents related to the building, and the land. You can ask for the certificates and documents cleared by the respective agencies or boards.

• Check that property has clear legal titles or not.
  
  
• Check that whether the developer has the right to transfer the properties. Has he taken transfer of property approvals from the statutory land development or planning authority or competent authority constituted under the Urban Land Ceiling and Regulation Act and the Income-Tax Act.
  
  
• Check that the developer has acquired approvals from the Municipal Corporation, Area Development Authorities, Electricity Boards, Water Supply & Sewage Boards.
  
  
• Scrutinize the contract and take help from legal experts before signing.