Buying a house in a big gated society? Check these 4 key things before your dream home turns into a nightmare

Shobhit Tiwari, 34, a techni cal architect specialising in data science and Artificial Intelligence, moved into his apartment in Bengaluru’s Whitefield expecting the conveni ences that come with paying a premium for a modern gated community. The society houses between 1,000 and 2,000 families in just two towers. Two-and-a-half years later, he found yellow water flowing from the taps. In June, the water supply remained discoloured for two to three weeks, prompting residents to stop using it entirely, switch to bottled water and raise the alarm. At least two to three children were reportedly hospitalised, with a doctor attributing their illness to poor water quality.

“Had I known about the issue earlier, I believe it would have influenced my decision to buy this prop erty,” says Tiwari. “Water quality remains the single biggest concern in the society.”

Tiwari’s experience is neither an isolated incident nor simply a case of bad luck. It points to an emerging problem in some of India’s rapidly expanding residential complexes: hundreds or thousands of families, multiple towers, a brochure packed with amenities—and a gated community that does not always deliver the basic services its residents thought they were paying for.

Kartik Gopinath, 34

Salon owner, Faridabad

Complex size

10 towers; ~600–700 families

*Issues: Poor maintenance, frequent lift breakdowns, high cost of com mon facilities. Residents pay high maintenance charges.

*Issue solved? Management responds to complaints, but resolution is often ineffective or delayed.

*Would he choose a gated complex again? No. He would prefer a stan dalone house for greater independ ence and control over maintenance.

Scale like never before

India is not simply building more apartments; it is building residential ecosystems at unprecedented scale. According to ANAROCK Research, 265 large projects comprising over 1,000 units each were launched across India’s top seven cities between 2021 and the first half of 2026. Together, these 265 projects account for nearly 4.8 lakh units of new supply. Of the total, roughly 190 projects comprised between 1,000 and 2,000 units, 46 comprised between 2,000 and 3,000 units, and nearly 29 had more than 3,000 units each. Hyderabad leads with 73 such projects, followed by the National Capital Region (NCR) with 55 and Bengaluru with 51.

The real estate market reflects the same momentum. According to JLL, developers acquired over 3,093 acres of land across 149 transactions worth Rs.54,818 crore in 2025, a 32% year-on-year increase, with 78% of that land, or 2,398 acres, allocated for residdential developments.

Rising land prices and the scarcity of large urban parcels are pushing developers towards larger, denser and more integrated projects, says Rahul Purohit, Co-Founder and Chief Business Officer at Square Yards. “As land values rise and large contiguous parcels become increasingly difficult to secure in established locations, larger and vertically planned develop ments allow developers to use availa ble land more efficiently while meeting housing demand at scale.”

ANAROCK’s Executive Director and Head of Research, Prashant Thakur, adds that the post-pandemic preference for self-sufficient societies has further accelerated this trend, with residents seeking communities that cater to all their needs.

Not a high-rise problem

Nilabh Nagar, an urbanist and Principal Architect, Hafeez Contractor, Mumbai, makes an impor tant distinction that gets lost in most discussions about mega projects: the problems residents face — water short ages, sewage failures, road congestion, infrastructure gaps — are not caused by the fact that a building is tall.

“Except for the lift, every other issue has nothing to do with a high-rise,” he says. “It is more a policy problem rath er than a high-rise building problem. The infrastructure to reach that prop erty, or the road width there to service that property, has nothing to do with it being a high-rise. It’s everything to do with the fact that a large complex when fed from a very small road, doesn’t have the infrastructure with it.”

He points out that residents in large complex attribute their problems to the building’s height, when the real variable is large number of tenements without matching external infrastruc ture, a city planning policy failure, not an architectural one.

Akhil Saraf, Founder and CEO of Reloy, India’s largest gamifica tion platform for real estate, offers a counterpoint: well-managed gated communities can function as oases within the weak urban infrastructure surrounding them. Ashish Acharya, Founder and CEO of Propsoch, a real estate advisory firm, makes the same observation: “Gated communities to day, which are mostly high rises, have become like oasis in the larger clutter of the infrastructure of the city.”

Inside the gates, he explains, grey water goes to a sewage treatment plant and is recycled, garbage goes to a cen tral organic waste converter, and pow er backup systems mean that work from-home professionals rarely face the blackouts that plague standalone buildings on the same street. “That in frastructure has actually made lives much better for a lot of people who pay for it,” he says.

The real question is whether the infrastructure and management sys tems inside these projects can keep pace as the population grows.

Shilpa Oberoi, 41

Teacher, Greater Noida West

Complex size

1,500 units; 12 towers

*Issues: Lift delays, seepage, low water pressure and traffic congestion at the gates.

*Issue solved? Partly. A previous seepage issue was resolved after follow-ups.

*Would she choose a gated/ high-rise complex again? She now prefers a low-rise apart ment with lower density.

Note:The real question is whether the infrastructure and management systems inside these projects can keep pace as the population grows.

India’s mega-housing boom

Bigger, denser

265 large (>1,000 units) projects launched across top 7 cities

4.8 lakh total new units supplied by these projects

190 projects — 1,000–2,000 units each

46 projects — 2,000–3,000 units each

29 projects — more than 3,000 units each

Where are the mega projects?

Hyderabad

73

Delhi-NCR

55

Bengaluru

51

Hyderabad has the highest concentration among the top 7 cities

Source: ANAROCK Research. Data period 2021 to H12026

Four issues crop up repeatedly

Trap 1: water

Shobhit Tiwari’s contaminated water is one version of the prob lem. In Maharashtra, chartered accountant Sumankumar Jha, who lives on the 11th floor of a tower built by a major Mumbai-based developer in Thane, faces a different version of the same problem. The complex has three buildings—two with 28 floors and one with 48—comprising around 462 units. “There is no regular or consistent municipal water supply,” he says. “So we have to order tanker water.” For a resident of a project built by one of India’s most reputed developers, dependence on water tankers is hardly a minor inconvenience. According to Purohit of Square Yards, a water connection is not the same as water security. The right question for any buyer is not whether the project currently has water — at partial occupancy, most do—but where the water will come from when all units are occupied simultaneously.

“A simple question buyers can ask is: ‘If every unit in the project is occupied, where will the water come from and what is the backup arrangement?’ The answer should be supported by documented capacity rather than an assurance based on present occupancy,” he says.

Trap 2: the elevator

Kartik Gopinath, 34, a salon owner from Greater Faridabad, lives in a society with 10 towers and roughly 600-700 families. The biggest issue, he says, is elevator maintenance. “My family and I have been stuck in the lift several times. My father is elderly, and since we live on the top floor, we are always worried about what might happen if he gets stuck in the lift. He may not be able to manage the situation on his own, even if he is stuck for a few minutes.”

Sumankumar Jha in Thane reports the same frustration from a different angle. The lifts provided by his builder— a well known name—break down frequently, he says, and the wait time has been five to seven minutes, though it improved after residents synchronised all four lifts internally. “We purchased the flat from such a reputed builder, but the quality of lifts is very basic,” he says.

Acharya of Propsoch explains why older communities are more exposed. Some were built under regulations that required fewer lifts per family. Newer rules may mandate service lifts capable of carrying a stretcher, dedicated freight lifts, and minimum ratios of lift capacity to unit count—infrastructure that older projects simply do not have and cannot easily retrofit.

Trap 3: the hidden balance sheet

When a homebuyer signs for a Rs.2 crore apartment, the mental transaction is simple: pay the money and the apartment is yours. The reality is more complex. You are buying not just an apartment, but also a share of the common infrastructure, a future maintenance liability, dependence on society management and, ultimately, dependence on municipal infrastructure out side the gates. Most buyers understand the first part clearly. Few fully grasp the rest.

Maintenance charges in large communities currently run at around Rs.5-6 per square foot, says Acharya of Propsoch. For a typical 2,000-sq-ft 3BHK (three-bedroom, hall and kitchen) apartment in Bengaluru, this trans lates into roughly Rs.10,000 a month.

ANAROCK’s Thakur explains why: large projects require extensive operating infrastructure, including multiple lifts and maintenance contracts, round-the clock security and housekeeping, diesel generator sets and fuel, water pumping and treatment, sewage treatment plant (STP) operations, clubhouse facilities, landscap ing and facility management staff.

Saraf of Reloy, however, cautions against viewing high maintenance costs as inher ently problematic. “A higher maintenance cost can also mean a significantly better quality of life, better facilities and better upkeep of the overall community. The comparison shouldn’t simply be about paying more; it should be about the experience and value that residents get for that cost.”

But the question is not what mainte nance costs today; it is whether the maintenance model remains financially viable as the project ages and infrastructure starts to require larger repairs and replacements. “A low initial maintenance charge may ap pear attractive, but it should not be viewed in isolation. Buyers need to understand whether the current charge is sufficient to maintain the project’s infrastructure over the long term or whether substantial increases are likely as the development matures,” Purohit of Square Yards says.

Trap 4: Amenities issue

Shilpa Oberoi, a teacher from Greater Noida West, lives in a socie ty with 1,500 units and 12 towers. She waits 5-10 minutes for the lift during peak hours, notices seepage on some exterior walls, and deals with traffic congestion at the gates during morning school bus hours. The swimming pool exists, but she does not use it. “The size is not that large compared with the density of the society,” she says.

Oberoi, who lives on the 17th floor of her building, adds that sometimes people leave discarded items or gar bage on the stairs, which smells bad and makes the area feel untidy.

“I think living in a low-rise apart ment with lower density would be better than living in a high-rise building with higher density,” she says.

In Faridabad, Kartik Gopinath is facing multiple issues. His society has a swimming pool, a gym, and a clubhouse. None of them is properly maintained. “Many of these areas have been neglected for years and now look almost abandoned,” he says. “This is frustrating because residents continue to pay mainte nance charges despite these facili ties remaining unusable.” He has paid additional charges for renovation and maintenance work, yet the lift problem remains unresolved.

This is the amenity paradox: homebuyers in large projects often pay a premium for facilities they either cannot comfortably use or must maintain as they slide toward obsolescence.

Sumankumar Jha, 48

Chartered Accountant

Thane, Mumbai

Complex size

462 units across 3 buildings

*Issue: Unreliable municipal water supply, frequent lift breakdowns

*Issue solved? Water supply and lift breakdowns remain the biggest problems.

*Would he choose the complex again? No. He says knowing these problems beforehand would have changed his decision.

Buyer's due-diligence checklist

Check the true scale

*Total units at completion

*Future phases/towers planned

*Population at 100% occupancy

*Housing units per acre

Count the lifts

*Units per lift

*Dedicated service lift

*What happens when a lift breaks down?

*Check peak-hour waiting time

Verify fire safety

*Fire NOC and sanctioned plans

*Sprinklers, hydrants and fire lifts

*Emergency exits and fire-tender access

*Are drills and inspec tions conducted?

Test the waterproofing

*Where will water come from?

*Municipal supply vs borewell/tankers?

*Storage & sewage treatment capacity?

*How much water is recycled?

Check power backup

*100% backup or common areas only?

*What appliances work during an outage?

*Is capacity sufficient at full occupancy?

*EV charging capacity?

Calculate the maintenance cost

*Current monthly charge

*What does it cover?

*Escalation mechanism?

*Sinking/reserve fund?

Question the amenities

*Which amenities will you actually use?

*What does each cost to maintain?

*Are promised amenities in the agreement?

*Who maintains them after the builder exits?

Fire preparedness

A spate of recent residential fires has brought a longstanding concern into focus: how prepared are India’s hous ing societies to prevent, contain and respond to a major fire? “According to National Building Code (NBC) norms, residential towers exceeding 15 meters must deploy multi-layered fire infrastructure to secure a fire department NOC,” states Acharya of Propsoch. This legally mandates permanently pressurised wet riser systems inside central shafts, along side comprehensive automated water sprinkler networks running through all basements, common areas, and in dividual apartment units to suppress fires instantly.

But Acharya identifies a gap that no regulation fully addresses: “People need to be trained. I don’t think the people who stay there are as trained or knowledgeable about it. Maybe the maintenance department folks are trained in these things, but they’re not professional firefighters. So for them to really rush into a building and do these things might actually be a crisis if there’s a fire.”

Vikas Bhasin, Managing Director of NCR-based developer Saya Group, makes the same point from the build er’s side: “Fire safety must be treated as a life-safety requirement, not merely a regulatory compliance issue.” Regular in spection, maintenance, emergency drills, trained facility management teams, and resident awareness are, he says, equally important to ensure that systems work during a real crisis.

Compliance is not the same as prepar edness. That distinction, in a 40-storey building, housing thousands of families, carries weight that no maintenance charge calculation can fully capture.

When the builder leaves

A builder’s role typically winds down after project completion, handover of common areas and documents, and the transfer of day-to-day management to the residents’ as sociation. Nidhi Singh, Partner at IndiaLaw LLP, has a perspective on what happens inside these developments over time: “Till the time the builder is there, they are able to maintain the premises because they have unsold units to sell. But once the builder exits, housing societies struggle to maintain the amenities.”

Her point is structural, not anecdotal. A builder has a strong incentive to maintain a project while there is unsold inventory. Once the conveyance is complete and the society or Resident Welfare Association (RWA) takes over, the financial and opera tional responsibility shifts to residents who, Singh says, often do not fully realise the scale of what they are inheriting.

The lifecycle looks roughly like this. In the first few years, the builder is present, infrastructure is new, and the amenities are being showcased to prospective buyers. As the transition to society management oc curs, maintenance becomes the responsibil ity of residents and the RWA, often without a fully tested financial model to support it. Within a decade, lifts, waterproofing, pumps, STPs, DG systems, pools and other equipment begin approaching replacement cycles. By year 15 and beyond, the real test of whether the project was financially de signed for longevity starts.

“Maintaining these amenities is a huge ex pense on allottees,” Singh says. “While book ing the flat, they don’t realise it. But once the problems emerge, even if you are fond of gated complexes and want to live in one, you have to ask: what can you really do?”

Singh’s answer on the legal front is an eye-opener. The Real Estate Regulatory Authority, conceived to fast-track real estate disputes, has, in practice, become difficult to rely on for enforcement. “There is no fate of such complaints,” she says. “People file, there is no next date given, it goes for concili ation, and in conciliation too, obviously, the developer will deny any wrongdoing. As a result, the developer will not settle; the mat ter will be deferred for years and years. And then one day you just give up.” She recom mends vigilance before booking as the pri mary protection, rather than relying on the regulatory mechanism afterwards.

Purohit of Square Yards echoes the financial concern: buyers should examine whether a project has a reserve or sinking fund for capital expenditure, and whether the maintenance structure has been de signed to meet the project’s full operational requirements. Many projects have neither.

No easy exit

Kartik Gopinath, in Faridabad, is unam biguous about where he stands now. “We would not have shifted here had we known about the maintenance and infrastructure issues.” Today, he says, he would prefer a standalone house. “The independence and fewer common-facility issues make a stan dalone house a much better option for me.”

But the answer is not necessarily to abandon high-rises or gated communities. India’s cities cannot accommodate their rapidly growing urban populations without greater density. The trend towards large residential projects is expected to strengthen further. Density, in other words, is not the trap. The trap is density without adequate infrastructure, professional man agement and an honest accounting of what it will cost to live there—not in year one, but in year fifteen, when the builder has left, the lifts need replacing and the society is voting on a sinking fund it may not have.