Choosing Office Space in Bangalore: A Founder's Checklist
29 Jul 2026 · 5 min read
Office rent is only the visible part of what a workspace costs a startup. Deposit, fit-out, lock-in and the wrong location all cost more than a slightly higher per-square-foot rate. This checklist covers what to verify before signing a lease in Bangalore.
Pick the corridor before the building
Your team's commute decides attendance and hiring reach. The CBD and Indiranagar suit client-facing firms, Koramangala and HSR Layout keep you inside the startup ecosystem, and the Outer Ring Road and Whitefield give the most space per rupee for larger engineering teams.
Check the space, not the brochure
Verify power backup capacity in KVA against your load, the real parking count for cars and bikes, washroom capacity per floor, and floor efficiency, meaning how much of the quoted super built-up area is actually usable. Ask what fit-out changes the owner permits and who pays to restore the space at exit.
Negotiate the lease like it matters
The numbers to negotiate are deposit, usually six to ten months of rent for offices, lock-in duration, escalation percentage, and the rent-free fit-out period. Dealing directly with the owner makes each of these an actual conversation rather than a message relayed through a broker with their own incentives.
Finally, confirm the building's occupancy certificate and whether commercial use is permitted. A cheap floor in a building that cannot legally host your office is not cheap.