Before you sign: an office building checklist for Bengaluru

Which documents show a building can be used as an office?

Ask for the occupancy certificate, the sanctioned plan, the fire NOC, the khata with tax receipts and proof that the landlord may lease the space. Read them together: the address should match on every one, and the khata should name the landlord as owner.

Checklists from two workspace operators, Awfis and Cove Offices, and a commercial property company, Indian City Properties, all include the occupancy certificate and fire safety clearances. Indian City Properties warns that many new business owners unknowingly lease buildings without the proper permissions.

• Occupancy certificate (OC). Issued when a building is completed in line with its sanctioned plan, it allows the building to be occupied. Check that it covers your floor and records office or commercial use.
• Sanctioned plan. The plan the planning authority approved. Your floor should be shown as office or commercial space, not as parking, storage or homes.
• Fire NOC. The Karnataka State Fire and Emergency Services’ no-objection certificate for the building’s fire safety. Check the building name, address and date on it, and ask when the fire systems were last serviced.
• Khata and property tax receipts. The khata is the civic record of a property and its tax assessment. The name on it should match your landlord’s, with the tax paid up.
• Proof of the right to lease. Title documents, or a power of attorney if someone signs for the owner. If a provider will run your office, ask it for these too, and for proof that its own lease lets it offer you the space.
• Owner’s no-objection letter. Some registrations need the owner’s consent. To make the office your company’s registered office, for example, the Companies (Incorporation) Rules, 2014 call for an authorisation from the owner or an authorised occupant (rule 25). Make the agreement oblige the owner, or the provider that holds the lease, to give it.
• Structural stability certificate. A structural engineer’s certificate that the building is structurally safe. Ask for a recent one, especially for an older building or heavy loads such as a server room.

The owner’s documents also matter for GST. To register a rented office, CBIC’s April 2025 instruction requires the agreement and one proof that the landlord owns the premises. That proof can be the latest property tax receipt, a municipal khata copy or an electricity bill.

If the agreement isn’t registered, the owner’s identity proof is needed too. Officers may cross-check the documents against municipal and electricity records, and can ask for more if the address doesn’t match. So make sure every document shows the same address, and ask your chartered accountant what your registration needs.

Older documents may carry the name of BBMP, which was dissolved on 2 September 2025 when five city corporations under the Greater Bengaluru Authority took over (The Hindu).

Which approvals a particular building needs is a legal question, and this guide doesn’t answer it. Have a lawyer read the full set of documents and confirm what applies before you sign.

What should you check about power, lifts, air conditioning and internet?

Check how much power your floor may draw and what the backup carries. Then visit at the morning peak to test the lifts, and ask about air-conditioning hours and internet providers.

• Electrical load. Ask what load is sanctioned for your floor and whether it can be raised. A server room or extra air conditioning adds load beyond the workstations, so include them when you ask.
• Backup power. Ask what share of your load the generator and UPS carry, for how long, and how quickly power switches over.
• Air conditioning. Ask for the building’s air-conditioning hours in writing, the charge for running it after hours, and whether your floor can run it alone for late shifts and weekends.
• Lifts. Awfis suggests a site visit at 9:30 am on a weekday, not a quiet afternoon tour. Watch the lobby queue. Ask to see the lift licences, who maintains the lifts, and whether a service lift can take deliveries and the fit-out.
• Internet. Ask which providers already bring fibre into the building, and whether a second can come in by a separate route. Cove Offices’ checklist also asks whether the internet is dedicated or shared, about backup lines and how long the power backup lasts.

Full power backup is a market specification, not a code requirement. Cushman & Wakefield’s Q3 2026 MarketBeat quotes Bengaluru rents for Grade A space with full power backup and high-side air conditioning. The National Building Construction Standards 2026 require standby power for fire and life-safety systems, such as fire pumps, fire lifts and emergency lighting. They size the generator for essential loads, not for everything in the building, so get in writing what share of your office’s load the backup carries.

Under TRAI’s digital connectivity rating scheme, updated in May 2026, a building’s manager can have a registered agency rate or audit its connectivity (Press Information Bureau). If the building has a rating or an audit report, ask to see it.

How do you check access, security and parking?

Ask who can enter and when, what the cameras cover, and how many car, two-wheeler and visitor spaces come with your floor, in writing.

• Entry and visitors. Ask for the building’s opening hours, how access cards are issued and cancelled, and how visitors sign in. If your team works late or at weekends, check that the building is open and staffed then.
• CCTV. Ask which common areas the cameras cover, such as entrances, lifts and parking, how long footage is kept and who may view it. Teams facing security audits will need these answers in writing.
• Parking. What you get depends on the building’s parking allocation. Ask how many car, two-wheeler and visitor slots come with your floor, whether they are covered and what each costs, and get the numbers into the agreement.

Ask where riders park when the two-wheeler slots are full, and where visitors and cabs can stop. For the journey itself, see how your team will commute; for parking pressures in particular districts, see the location guide’s district risks.

Does the building or its road flood?

Flooding in Bengaluru is local, so check the building and its approach road, not only the district. Ask what happened in the last heavy rain, and go and look.

In May 2025, flooded roads led many technology companies in Bengaluru to ask staff to work from home (BBC). The location guide covers that flood among the city’s district risks. For a particular building, check four things:

• The basement. Ask in writing whether water has entered the basement, lift pits or electrical rooms in recent monsoons, and what was done about it.
• The approach road. Ask neighbouring businesses and the building’s security staff how the road outside coped in the last heavy rain.
• A visit after rain. If you can, visit after a heavy shower. Look for water marks, damp walls and pumps in the basement.
• Generators and panels. Find out where the generator, electrical panels and parking are. Equipment in a basement that floods can take the building’s power down with it.

What must the landlord approve before a fit-out?

Agree in writing what the landlord must approve before your office is built, and settle the main approvals before you sign. Cover at least these six items.

• Drawings. The layout, partitions, ceilings and any change to floors or walls. Ask who signs off, and how long it takes.
• Working hours. When noisy work, deliveries and debris removal are allowed, and whether the service lift can be booked for them.
• Electrical load. Any increase beyond the sanctioned load needs the landlord’s agreement, and your lease should say who pays for it.
• Fire systems. New partitions and cabins can mean moving sprinklers, smoke detectors and alarm points, which the building’s fire contractor may need to do or approve.
• Signage. Your name at the entrance, in the lobby and on your door. GST rules require your GST number on the name board at the entrance of each place of business (CGST Rules, rule 18), so agree where yours goes.
• Server room. Its cooling, power and fire protection, and whether the floor can carry the weight of racks and batteries.

In a managed office, the provider builds the office, so these approvals sit between the provider and the landlord: ask which are already agreed. An office built to suit, fitted out for one team inside an existing building, needs them before work starts: see how built-to-suit works.

What goes on an office building checklist?

These 20 due-diligence checks cover the documents, the services, access and parking, and the site and your fit-out. Use them on any building you consider, and get each answer in writing.

Send this list to the landlord, or to the provider if one will run your office, with your requirements. Mark anything unanswered, and take the document checks to your lawyer before you sign.

This list covers the building. For the agreement itself, use the contract checklist: scope and price, term and exit, money, the build and how the office is run.

Nestoo Worksphere has no fixed centres: we look for a building in the locality you choose, then build and run your office there. It can be Managed Office Space, your own lockable office inside a shared, managed office, or Private Office Space, an entire office for your company alone. Before you choose any building, ask for its approvals in writing and take professional advice where you need it. See how we shortlist buildings.