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, 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 commer-
cial and residential 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.
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 the4 projects executed by the builder in advance.
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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