Telangana: Penalise sellers, say illegal property buyers

Hyderabad: Even as the Telangana government has given another opportunity of Layout Regularisation Scheme (LRS) to the citizens, property owners now want the seller also to be made accountable and penal amount should be shared by sellers and buyers.

The State government has recently issued notification for implementation of LRS for one last time in all urban and rural areas in the State. The aim of the government was to make sure no registration of plots is done in unauthorised layouts from now on and to have planned and a sustainable development.

According to officials, the LRS is applicable to unauthorised layouts developed with at least 10 per cent of plots sold through a registered deed on or before the cut-off date. The plot owners should also pay registration fee of Rs 1,000 in case of individuals and Rs 10,000 in case of layout developers. The government prescribed Rs 200 per sq meter for a plot less than 100 sq meters, Rs 400 for area of 101 to 300 sq meters, Rs 600 for an area of 301 to 500 sq meters and Rs 750 for area of above 500 sq meters.

Though the plot owners welcome the government's decision to give another opportunity, they also want stringent action against the developers for any violation of rule. K Sanjeeva Reddy, a businessman said that presently the government was making the buyers responsible, but it should be on both the buyer and seller of the property. "There has to be a mechanism where the buyer and the seller should share the regularisation fee and also the penal amount so that the buyer does not get scot free," said Sanjeeva Reddy.

A techie S Sampath, who purchased a house recently, said that the seller should be held responsible. However, if the government is giving an LRS facility, both the seller and buyer should share the fee and other formalities.

However, the realtors feel that the onus of checking all the legalities lies with the buyers. A realtor R Santosh Kumar said the buyer had to check the details like approved layouts so that there will not be any issues in future. He said that the LRS opportunity given by the government will only help the property holders.