Buying a Running School: A Due-Diligence Checklist
Operating schools are among the most rewarding institutional assets in Tamil Nadu — a running campus comes with land, buildings, staff, buses, and most importantly a fee-paying student base. But a school is not a simple real-estate purchase: it is a regulated institution sitting on top of real estate. Here is the checklist we walk every buyer through.
1. The trust, not just the land
Most private schools are run by an educational trust or society. What you acquire in practice is control of that trust — so the trust deed, the list of trustees, board resolutions authorising the transaction, and trustee KYC come first. Confirm whether the trust's 80G and 12AA/12AB income-tax registrations are current, and review filed IT returns with audit reports for at least three years.
2. Land-use conditions
School land is sometimes government-allotted or conditionally zoned — "for school purpose only" is a real restriction that shapes what a future owner can and cannot do with the campus. Read the allotment order and the patta. A campus on freely-held land and a campus on conditional land can look identical on a site visit and be very different assets on paper.
3. Recognition, affiliation, and compliance
Verify board affiliation (CBSE / state board / matriculation), the recognition certificate's validity period, building stability and fire certificates, and sanctioned intake. If the pitch mentions student strength, ask for the fee register — enrolment claims should reconcile with fee collections.
4. The operating numbers
- Student strength vs capacity — a 520-student school with capacity for 3,500 is a growth story; a full school is a yield story. Price them differently.
- Fee structure — approved fee slabs, pending fee-committee matters, and collection efficiency.
- Staff — teaching and non-teaching headcount, PF/ESI compliance, and any accumulated dues.
- Transport — bus fleet age, permits, and route economics.
5. Assets on the ground
Walk the campus against the asset register — labs, computers, projectors, library, generators, solar plant, kitchen equipment. On multi-crore campuses the movable assets alone can run into crores, and the valuation sheet should say what conveys with the sale.
Elite FourSquare Realtors currently represents running schools in Arakonam, Poonamallee, Keezhkattalai, Siruseri and Anna Nagar, from Rs 22 crore to Rs 141 crore — each with a documentation file assembled before we list. If an institutional acquisition is on your horizon, start the conversation and we will share the dossier under NDA.