Seeking to end real estate developers’ non-compliance with pre-approved deadlines and fraudulent practices, the Karnataka Home Buyers Forum (KHBF) has appealed to the state’s new Real Estate Regulatory Authority (Rera) chairperson Rakesh Singh to issue a notification on guidelines for project closures and direct all builders and developers to comply with it.
Referring to a similar notification issued by Rera Odisha, KHBF has demanded that the same be emulated in Karnataka.
At a meeting last week, KHBF convenor Dhananjaya Padmanabhachar told Singh that most of the builders fail to comply with the pre-approved deadlines in completing their projects, due to which buyers undergo economic burden.
“After the registration of their properties as per the Rera Act, no builder in Bengaluru formally notifies the closure of the project and they instead walk away with all the benefits, including property titles which ideally should have been transferred to buyers’ associations,” Padmanabhachar explained.
He said, “Many builders assume that getting an occupancy certificate (OC) is the end of the project. Mere obtaining OC does not mean completion of the project. The builder has to facilitate the setting up of the residents’ association and handover of the title deeds, mother deed, and land records to the association. Besides, builders must initiate conveyance deeds… But none of these is happening in Bengaluru and all residents’ associations or buyers have been left in the lurch.”
Stating that a notification on project closures would help streamline all these anomalies, Padmanabhachar said, “Generally, the buyers would have deposited the money in an escrow account. Currently, the builder takes away any money left in the escrow account instead of passing this onto the residents/associations as security money for the maintenance of the structure over the next five years.” “At least this will help the associations take care of any structural damage to the buildings rather than asking all residents to pool in again,” he added.
KHBF members said resident welfare associations (RWAs) or individuals are fighting some of these anomalies. If the Rera issues a notification mandating all builders to comply with the project closure, the responsibility shifts to builders from RWAs, they argued. Padmanabhachar said Singh was positive about the requests. “The chairperson assured us that he will look into our demand and discuss it with the other members of the authority for appropriate actions,” he pointed out.
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