People with
different culture, taste and habits living in separate dwelling units situate
within a compound is not new to the country as it was prevalent in the past
under the name and style as Vatara houses wherein small dwelling units were
constructed within a compound for occupation and use by different families as
their residence.Vatara houses were constructed in horizontal or in L shape rows
with single storey structures unlike the present day multiple storey vertical
apartments.
Apartment culture
Apartment
culture, though of recent origin, has gained tremendous acceptance by the
people in a very short time. Generally, it is seen that in apartments, people
of different back- grounds, origin and culture live in good harmony and
brotherhood. Shalimar Apartment, built in early seventies was probably the
first Apartment that was constructed in Bangalore. Apartment culture further
gained acceptance in early eighties when several apartments were built in Malleshwaram
and other places. Since-then construction of apartments is in full swing in
Bangalore and a large number of reputed builders and Promoters are busily
engaged in the development of jlifferent Apartment Projects in and round
Bangalore to meet the ever increasing demand for commercial and residential
apartments.
Merits of apartments
Apartments
have certain advantages in comparison with the independent houses. The first
and foremost advantage the purchaser of an apartment will enjoy is that he need
not have to worry about the issues like obtaining plan sanctions, finding a
building contractor, supervising the construction work, obtaining basic
amenities such as water, power, sewerage facilities for the building and so on
which is taken care of by the Developer. The purchaser of apartment need not
have to worry for any civic problems which he may encounter after his
occupation of the apartment, since these problems are tackled by the Apartment
Owners Associationl Builder for which a nominal charges are levied.
The next
advantage an apartment owner gets would be the social harmony he would get due
to community living. A sort of bondage is developed amongst the residents of
apartments.
Further, for
the exclusive use of apartment owners/occupants almost all the apartments
now-a-days, do have facilities like gym, health-club, recreational center,
sports club, swimming pool, private security system within the premises for
which again a nominal fee is charged.
De-merits of Apartments
Even though
living in apartments do have many advantages, they are not totally free from
disadvantages. A Person who lives in an apartment generally is deprived of his
privacy. Further, the apartment owner is prevented from carrying out any major
addition, alteration or modification to his apartment to suit his needs. All
such repairs, alterations and modifications are to be carried out with least
inconvenience to other apartment owners and any damage or loss caused to the
other apartment owners are to be compensated. The amount collected by the
Apartment Owners Association to meet the expenses for general maintenance and
upkeep may be more than what a person would have spent had he owned an
independent house and could be much more than what is required for such
maintenance. There is every likelihood of such a common fund being misused by
the office bearers of the Association or over which there could be some
misunderstanding amongst the apartment owners leading to unsavoury situation.
Apartments
would fetch a much lower price compared to an independent house during its
second sale. Further, any dilapidated single apartment would fetch no buyers
since the land on which such apartment is built is owned by all the apartment
owners and the seller does not have the exclusive ownership right over the land
on which such apartment is situate. On the contrary, a dilapidated independent
house would generally get prospective buyers irrespective of the condition of
the structure since new structures could be put on such sites after demolishing
the existing ones and the seller of such a dilapidated house will transfer his
right, title and ownership of the land as well.
How to proceed?
As in the
case of purchase of any other property, verification of ownership title is one
of the pre-requisites for purchase of an apartment also. Though the builder of
apartments provides legal opinion given by his advocate regarding subsistence
of marketable and valid title of the vendors, it is always better that the
intending purchaser of an apartment gets the title report of the property
scrutinized from an advocate of his choice having vast knowledge and experience
in property dealings. The legal scrutiny report shall contain detailed
information regarding the origin, flow of title, present status of the owner, validity
of the OPA, Joint Venture, if any, entered into between the owner and the
Developer.
Another very
important aspect which requires consideration is to ascertain whether the
approval for construction of apartments and the plan has been obtained form the
competent authority and to find out whether commencement and completion
certificates have been issued by such an authority.
Location of
the building is another important aspect which one has to consider before
purchasing an apartment. This is mainly because any building which has no
proper access to main roads with insufficient public transport and other civic
amenities such as water, electricity supply, proper, sanitation, parks, market
place, hospitals, schools, etc. would put the purchaser of flat to a great
hardship and inconvenience.
Apart from
all these, the previous history and record of the Builder is necessary to be
verified for which purpose, it is always advisable to visit some of the 4
projects executed by the builder in advance.
Powers of the Sanctioning Authority
For grant of
approval for building construction and the plans, different authorities are
delegated with this power under different statutes. While, the village
Panchayats are empowered to give license for construction of building consisting
of ground and first floor, the City Municipal Corporation can approve plans for
ground plus three upper floors. The BBMP or BDA or any other concerned Town
Planning Authority can approve building plans of land for construction of
multistoried buildings apart from constructing an independent house. In the
case of high rise buildings consisting of more than four floors, No Objection
Certificates form BWSSB, BESCOM, Fire force authority, BSNL, Airport Authority
of India and Karnataka State Pollution Control Board are to be compulsorily
obtained.
It must be
kept in mind that anyone who violates the building bye-laws and zonal
regulations would expose himself to the risk of demolition of such structure
any time in the future.
Conveyance/Sale Deed
Normally,
before purchase of an apartment, a sale agreement is executed by the Owner,
[represented by the OPA Holder where there exists a OPA holder] and the
Builder, agreeing to sell an undivided share in the land in favour of the
intending purchaser. While at the same time, a construction agreement is also
executed by the Builder in favour of the intending purchaser agreeing to
construct an apartment for him. Once construction of apartment is complete, a
sale deed is executed jointly by the vendor of the land and the
builder/Promoter in accordance with the terms and conditions of the Joint
Development Agreement, if any, in favour of the purchaser. The sale deed
specifically recites the duties and responsibilities of the buyer and the
seller. As regards sale consideration, it is arrived at upon consideration of
the various aspects such as location, specification of the work, carpet area
and percentage of Carpet area to Super Built up Area and as agreed to between
the parties.
Undivided Share of Land
Undivided
share is the percentage of share conveyed in the total land along with the
apartment to the purchaser. This percentage depends upon the built up area of
an apartment and the actual extent of land upon which the apartments are
constructed. As the built up area increase the undivided share over the land
also increases.
Super Built-Up Area
Super built
up area is the saleable area generally applicable to apartments. Super built up
area consists of actual flat area plus proportionate common areas like
staircase cum verandah, balcony, lift area and other common areas etc.
Since the
price of an apartment depends upon the super built up area, it is advisable for
the purchaser to have some knowledge about Carpet area, plinth area and super
built up area before purchase of an apartment. Generally super built up area
should not be more than 25% of the carpet area.
Registration expenses
It is
obligatory on the part of the purchaser to bear the expenses incurred towards
stamp duty, registration charges and other incidental expenses to be incurred
in connection with the registra- tion of the apartment. Infact, the Builders
are collecting Sales tax, service tax, statutory deposits for Bescom and BWSSB.
Registered sale deed
Registered
sale deed is the document which establishes ownership title of the apartment in
favour of the purchaser. While making the Registration of Sale Deed, certain
factors need to be verified, such as: Operative words of the Sale Deed;
Consideration passing details; Devolution of the Property conveyed; Flow of
title of the Property to the Vendor; Indemnity Clauses, etc. .
Further, the
property which you intend the purchase is to be properly conveyed to you along
with undivided share of land, besides Super built-up area. Generally, in the Apartment land owners will
be more than one person, in such cases, they have to be represented by the
Developer being the Registered General Power of Attorney holder for the Developer’s
share of land; and in case of Owner’s share of land, basing on the Sharing
Agreement, they cannot convey the flat individually and instead all the owners
jointly only can convey the property because it being undivided share of land
and right of ownership of ingress and egress to be conveyed effectively. Further, the Sharing Agreement is just an
agreement and it cannot convey any ownership rights. Relying on the sale deed
the concerned Revenue authorities issue other supporting documents of title such
as Khatha Endorsement, Khatha Extract and the Tax paid receipts.
Registration under Apartment Owners'
association
After
completion of construction and handing over of the apartments to the
purchasers, the owners of such apartments are required to form an association
for the general well-being of the owners or residents of the apartments and for
maintenance of common areas. Upon formation of such an association, the builder
is duty bound to hand over originals of all the relevant title deeds, detailed
drawings of electrical, water and sanitary lines to enable the Association to
utilize the same for the common good whenever required. The Apartment Owners’
Association can be formed either under the Karnataka Apartment Owners’
Association Act or Karnataka Societies Act.
A word of caution
Do not go by
glossy advertisements and tall claims of the builder. There are several
instances wherein the apartments purchased by a few are inflicted with certain
latent defects which remain unattended to by the builder when once the sale
transaction is complete pushing the purchaser to suffer both in terms of
comfort and finance. There are many reputed builders available in the market
with impressive track records. Choose anyone of them and have a peaceful
enjoyment of your apartment.
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