DLF Towers Jasola Office for Rent, South Delhi

This is the one building in this research where every component of the bill is published, so for once the whole sum can be done rather than estimated. The headline is Rs 110 per sq ft a month plus GST, with some units at Rs 95. Here is what actually leaves a tenant's account on a 1,056 sq ft suite:

The headline rent is 73 per cent of the bill. Not 95 per cent, not 90: the number in the listing is under three quarters of the money.

The GST line, which cuts both ways

Commercial rent carries GST at 18 per cent, and the listings here say "plus GST" rather than hiding it. Whether it is a cost or a pass-through depends entirely on the tenant:

• A GST-registered business letting for its own taxable supply takes input credit. The Rs 20,909 is cash flow, not cost, and the real number is Rs 130 per sq ft.
• A professional below the registration threshold, or a business making exempt supplies — some financial services, some education, some healthcare — cannot claim it. For them the real number is Rs 149.80, and the gap is Rs 2.5 lakh a year on this suite.

No listing in this research mentions that distinction, and it is worth more to a small professional firm than any negotiation on the rate.

The escalation, which is the second number nobody models

The lease terms here are published too: three months' security deposit, a lock-in of twelve to twenty-four months, and a five per cent annual rent increase.

Five per cent a year sounds modest. Compounded over a nine-year term — the length this research keeps finding in Gurugram and Delhi commercial leases — Rs 110 becomes Rs 163 by the ninth year, which is half again what you signed at, before maintenance rises at all.

So the rate to compare between buildings is not the year-one rent. It is the year-one rent, the escalation and the term together. A building at Rs 120 with a three per cent escalation is cheaper over nine years than this one at Rs 110 with five.

What Jasola costs against Gurugram

Jasola District Centre is south Delhi rather than Gurugram, and the comparison is favourable in one specific respect: maintenance.

Two Jasola readings now sit at Rs 14.60 and Rs 15.74, which is a narrow enough band to treat as a real market rate rather than one building's quirk: Jasola maintenance runs about Rs 15, and it is the cheapest service charge in this research. On a 1,056 sq ft suite the difference from Golf Course Road is about Rs 41,000 a year.

What the rent buys: a 2008 Grade A building with small units

DLF Tower A was built in 2008 and is a Grade A building in Jasola District Centre with metro connectivity. Available units run small — published lettings include 1,056, 1,084, 1,142, 1,730, 1,821 and 2,500 sq ft across Towers A and B — against a floor of about 30,000 sq ft.

That combination is unusual and useful. Most buildings with 30,000 sq ft floors let them whole, which closes them to firms of twenty people. Here a small firm gets a Grade A address, a 2008 building, DLF as developer and a metro station, at 1,056 sq ft. In Gurugram the equivalent trade is DLF City Court's units under 700 sq ft at Rs 60 to Rs 65, which is far cheaper and a much older, strata-owned building.

The parking arithmetic, which is not trivial

Parking is billed separately: Rs 4,500 a month for a private basement bay, Rs 1,500 for public parking. On a 1,056 sq ft suite housing perhaps ten people, two private bays are Rs 9,000 a month, or Rs 8.52 per sq ft — over half the maintenance charge.

Work out how many bays you actually need before you sign, because it is one of the few lines here where the quantity is your choice. Three bays instead of five is Rs 72,000 a year.

Jasola or Gurugram: the question behind the rate

Gurgaon, as most people still write it, is twenty minutes away and cheaper. Whether that makes it the better answer depends on something other than the rate.

Most firms looking at this building are also looking across the border, so it is worth saying what the two markets actually differ on, beyond the number.

Jasola is in Delhi. That means Delhi stamp duty and Delhi registration on any purchase, Delhi power tariffs, Delhi labour and shops-and-establishments registration, and a Delhi address on your invoices. For a firm whose clients, regulators or promoters are in Delhi, that is not a preference, it is a requirement, and Gurugram's cheaper rents do not compete with it.

Gurugram is where the office stock is. Golf Course Road, Cyber City and the Sohna Road corridor between them hold many times Jasola's inventory, which means more choice, more competition between landlords and, in a soft year, better terms. A tenant with no reason to be in Delhi will generally do better across the border.

The service charge favours Jasola. Rs 15.74 here against Rs 18 to Rs 19 in Gurugram's better corridors is about eighteen per cent less, and on a long lease that compounds alongside the rent.

So the honest summary is that the address decides it and the rate refines it. If you need Delhi, this building is a genuinely good version of Delhi: Grade A, 2008, DLF, metro, small units, the cheapest maintenance in this research, and every line of the bill written down.

What to settle before you sign

• Whether your business can claim the GST input credit. If not, your real rate is Rs 149.80, not Rs 110.
• The escalation and the term together, then compound it. Five per cent over nine years is a fifty per cent rise.
• How many parking bays, private or public. Each private bay is Rs 54,000 a year.
• The lock-in: twelve months or twenty-four. The difference is a year of exit risk.
• Whether the quoted area is carpet or chargeable. One Gurugram building in this research publishes a 53.8 per cent loading, so the question is not academic.

Frequently asked questions

What is the office rent in DLF Towers Jasola?

About Rs 110 per sq ft a month plus GST, with some units at Rs 95. Add maintenance of Rs 15.74 and parking at Rs 4,500 a month for a private basement bay, and a 1,056 sq ft suite costs Rs 1,37,281 a month, or Rs 130 per sq ft, for a tenant who can claim the GST credit.

What does it cost if I cannot claim the GST credit?

Rs 149.80 per sq ft, or Rs 1,58,190 a month on a 1,056 sq ft suite, because the 18 per cent on the rent becomes a real cost rather than cash flow. That applies to professionals below the registration threshold and to businesses making exempt supplies, and on this suite the difference is about Rs 2.5 lakh a year.

What are the lease terms here?

Three months' rent as security deposit, a lock-in of twelve to twenty-four months, and a five per cent annual rent increase. Compounded over a nine-year term that five per cent takes Rs 110 to about Rs 163 in the ninth year, so the escalation and the term should be compared between buildings alongside the opening rate.

What are the maintenance charges, and how do they compare?

Rs 15.74 per sq ft a month, covering lift maintenance, round-the-clock security and water supply. With a second Jasola reading at Rs 14.60, Jasola runs about Rs 15 against Rs 18 on MG Road, Rs 19 on Golf Course Road and Rs 26 at Gold Souk, making it the cheapest service charge in this research: about Rs 41,000 a year less than Golf Course Road on a 1,056 sq ft suite.

How small a unit can I take?

Published lettings across Towers A and B include 1,056, 1,084, 1,142, 1,730, 1,821 and 2,500 sq ft, against a floor of roughly 30,000 sq ft. That is unusual: most buildings with plates that size let them whole, so a firm of ten to twenty people rarely gets a Grade A address at this unit size.

What does parking cost?

Rs 4,500 a month for a private basement bay and Rs 1,500 for public parking, billed separately from the rent. Two private bays on a 1,056 sq ft suite is Rs 9,000 a month, which is Rs 8.52 per sq ft, more than half the maintenance charge, and the number of bays is one of the few quantities on the bill that is your choice.