Everyone says check the maintenance before you buy a pool-equipped flat. Almost nobody prints the number. On a 5,000 sq ft flat it runs Rs 5.66 to Rs 10.62 lakh a year once 18 percent GST is added, and GST applies to the whole bill rather than the excess. Against a 2 to 3 percent gross yield, that is between a third and all of your rent.
Written by Mansi Joshi, Marketing Intelligence Lead, ZYN33 Investment Desk. Reviewed by Ritesh Arora, Founder, ZYN33 and Strata Capital Holdings, Gurugram. Advising on Gurugram residential capital allocation since 2023, with mandates ranging from Rs 3 Cr to Rs 50 Cr. Published 2 June 2026. Last reviewed 30 September 2026.
Disclosure: ZYN33 distributes residential projects in Gurugram and is paid a transaction fee when a purchase completes, including on projects we discuss with you. We do not give tax advice. This post is general information. Take it to your chartered accountant.
Everyone tells you to check the maintenance before you buy a pool. Almost nobody prints the number.
On a 5,000 square foot flat it runs Rs 5.66 to Rs 10.62 lakh a year once GST is added. Against a 2 to 3 percent gross yield, that is between a third and all of your rent.
Between Rs 4 and Rs 15 per square foot a month, before tax.
|
On a 5,000 sq ft flat |
At Rs 8 per sq ft |
At Rs 15 per sq ft |
|
Monthly charge |
Rs 40,000 |
Rs 75,000 |
|
GST at 18 percent |
Rs 7,200 |
Rs 13,500 |
|
Monthly, all in |
Rs 47,200 |
Rs 88,500 |
|
A year |
Rs 5.66 L |
Rs 10.62 L |
|
As a share of a Rs 5 Cr flat |
1.13 percent |
2.12 percent |
Now put that last row beside the gross yield. Gurugram luxury lets at 2 to 3 percent, so a Rs 5 crore flat earns Rs 10 to Rs 15 lakh a year.
Maintenance takes Rs 5.66 to Rs 10.62 lakh of that. Rental yield across Gurgaon projects works the rent side in full.
Maintenance is not exempt once the bill gets large, and a big flat always gets there.
Two conditions have to be met. The charge per member must exceed Rs 7,500 a month, and the association's turnover must exceed Rs 20 lakh a year. Any tower with a pool and a clubhouse clears both.
Then comes the part that catches people. Per CBIC Circular 109/28/2019-GST, the 18 percent applies to the entire amount, not to the excess above Rs 7,500.
The Madras High Court took the opposite view in Greenwood Owners Association, holding only the excess taxable. That ruling binds Tamil Nadu. In Haryana the circular is what your association will follow.
Rs 50,000 a square foot, which is higher than the figure usually quoted and higher than this site has printed elsewhere.
Listed units run Rs 17.63 to Rs 30.25 crore, with 3 BHK at 3,525 square feet and 4 BHK at 4,550 and 6,050. That works out at about Rs 50,000 per square foot.
Two lower numbers circulate for the same tower: above Rs 40,000, and Rs 33,000 to Rs 36,000. Both understate it. The branded premium on Golf Course Extension is real and it is larger than the coverage says.
The day-one sellout is a genuine data point and it is not recent.
On 13 May 2025, all 298 units sold for Rs 3,250 crore. That averages near Rs 10.9 crore against a quoted band of Rs 8 to Rs 15 crore. The project sits in Sector 69 across two 51 storey towers.
The developers are Smartworld and Tribeca, with the Trump Organization as brand partner. Worth noting because Smartworld also built The Edition in Sector 66, which usually appears on these lists as a separate recommendation.
Dwarka Expressway, and on this the usual advice is right.
Over twelve months the corridor printed plus 12.0 percent. Golf Course Road printed plus 6.5. Golf Course Extension printed minus 0.8.
So a claim of 8 to 12 percent across the luxury segment holds on one corridor and fails on another. Our corridor comparison sets out the spread.
M3M Elie Saab sits on that stronger corridor in Sector 111, which is the better half of its case. The clubhouse is the part you should price last.
|
What matters |
What is noise |
|
The current charge per sq ft, plus GST |
The pool in the launch render |
|
Whether a sinking fund exists and is funded |
The length of the amenity list |
|
Who runs the building, developer or association |
The architect's name on the brochure |
|
What the charge was three years ago |
The first year's charge, often subsidised |
Three.
Anyone letting the flat. Maintenance is the landlord's cost, not the tenant's, so every rupee comes off your yield. The tax code does not help. Letting income carries a flat 30 percent deduction on annual value, not your actual upkeep bill.
Anyone holding under three years. You pay the premium on entry and the running cost throughout, and exit before any of it is priced in by a buyer.
Anyone in a tower where the developer still controls upkeep with no handover date. An association you cannot vote in is a cost you cannot control.
Three things. Handover from developer to association, which is when the real charge usually appears. Any revision to the GST treatment of society maintenance, since the whole-bill rule is contested and currently settled only against the taxpayer outside Tamil Nadu. And the age of the plant, because pumps, filtration and chillers get replaced, and that bill lands on owners.
Four questions, in this order.
Ask for the current maintenance invoice, not the projected rate, and check whether GST appears on it. Ask what the same invoice said three years ago, because the trajectory tells you more than the level.
Ask whether a sinking fund exists, what it holds and what it is for. Then ask when the building hands over to the association, and read the handover terms.
Only then price the amenity. Take the resale premium the tower can show in recent ready to move comparables, and set the annual running cost against it.
Underfunding is the first risk. A pool that is expensive to run and an association that will not fund it produces a closed pool and a charge you still pay.
Plant replacement is the second. Filtration and temperature control have finite lives, and the special levy that replaces them arrives without warning.
Competition is the third. The rooftop pool differentiated a tower five years ago. It is now standard, so yours is compared against newer ones rather than against towers without.
Condition based: sell while the amenity still looks current, because a dated clubhouse reads as deferred maintenance to a buyer.
Charge based: sell before a large special levy lands, since a buyer prices the levy and the higher recurring charge into the offer.
Horizon based: on a new launch the cleanest exit follows possession and stabilisation. That is roughly five to seven years, once the real charge is known.
Luxury apartments with pool are good places to live. As an investment case resting on the amenity alone, no.
The branded premium is real, and the branded towers reshaping the skyline hold it. But it is a premium on the whole building and the address, not on the water. The amenity costs you Rs 5.66 to Rs 10.62 lakh a year to keep, every year, whether or not you swim.
Buy the tower that funds its upkeep. Price the pool at what it costs to run, not at what it looks like in the render.
Weighing an amenity-led flat between Rs 2 and Rs 7 crore? Send the current invoice and the ask. We set the running cost against the resale premium the tower can actually show.
Strata Capital Holdings tracks price bands, specification and inventory across Gurugram's corridors. ZYN33 brings that into the room when capital is placed. We distribute residential projects and are paid a transaction fee on completion, including on anything we discuss.
Running cost arithmetic is ZYN33 calculation on a 5,000 sq ft flat at Rs 8 and Rs 15 per sq ft a month, with 18 percent GST on the full charge, expressed against a Rs 5 crore ticket. Current figures, not forecasts. Appreciation and IRR projections quoted for this segment could not be sourced and are not adopted
Disclaimer
This article is general information about tax and property mechanics in India. It is not tax advice, investment advice or a recommendation to buy a specific property, and it does not account for your personal circumstances. Rates, thresholds and deadlines change. Verify every figure against the source listed above and take your liquidation plan to a qualified chartered accountant before you sell anything. ZYN33 distributes residential projects in Gurugram and is paid a transaction fee when a purchase completes. We do not act as your tax adviser or your adviser on the equity side.
Tell us your budget and timeline.
Tell us your budget and timeline.
