Unapproved flats may shatter 'own home' dreams in Hyderabad

Hyderabad: Despite several notices from the government, home buyers are falling prey to unfair practices of few unscrupulous builders and developers. People often get lured by the irresistible pre-sale offers of the realtors and land in troubles. Telangana government andreal estate bodies have been warning the public against purchase of undivided share (UDS) of land before construction.

Some builders are giving advertisement in the social media for sale of flats in apartments without obtaining any building permissions from GHMC/ HMDA and without RERA registration. Also, advertisements for sale of flats/ built-up space are being given even without acquisition of land by offering built-up area as pre-sale offer.

In such cases, few buyers come together to form a group for purchasing UDS of land identified by the builder. Instead of normal agreement of sale, they enter into an MoU with the builder, who collects the money from them and pays to the land owner. After execution of sale deed, they give power of attorney to the builder to construct and deliver the building in a timeframe.

However, the residential or commercial space is sold much below the market price in this kind of transaction. Such low amounts are not enough for the construction work and puts the investors' money at very high risk. If the builder doesn't execute the project in a specified time period, it leaves the buyers helpless as they can't transfer their UDS of land to anyone else.

Thissystem is devised by the unscrupulous operators to beat theregulations of Real Estate Regulatory Authority (RERA). A property to be built by the developers should not be sold before registering with the RERA. This has already come to the notice of the State government and the Municipal Administration and Urban Development department recently issued a notice.

As per RERA Act, the builder has to obtain building permission from the concerned authorities and register the project with RERA authority before selling of any flat/ office space. If the project is not registered with RERA, there is no forum to safeguard the investment of the customers of their money as the RERA cannot entertain any disputes of such projects.

The State government cautioned the public not to book or purchase any flats in such properties and advised them to check the approval details of GHMC/ HMDA and RERA registration before booking any flat/ office space in any project/ layout permissions given by HMDA/GHMC and RERA registrations that are available on the website of respective departments.

V Rajasekhar Reddy, general secretary, Credai Hyderabad said, "City real estate is at its best with the proactive policies for the last few years. The pre-sales of UDS will definitely hamper the organised growth of the industry, which is built strongly on the trust of the customers. Owning a house is a dream and it can't be shattered."

"The offers given by the unscrupulous builders are not realistic and not sure, if any such projects will be commenced and going to be completed. The customers should always prefer for a RERA approved project which will make the developer/promoter responsible for delivery of the property in specified timeline," he added.

There are as many as 3,527 projects listed on Telangana RERA. The main objective of RERA is that the property buyers should not finance the developer. Telangana Real Estate Developers Association (TREDA) President R Chalapathi Rao said, "Buying land is the basic investment for the developer. Selling UDS of land is over-leveraging the brand and it should be stopped."