Recent Belleza Blue case in Pune (2nd Campa Cola
like case in Maharashtra) where high court has asked the residents to vacate the
illegally constructed 3 floors of the building, is quite a shock to all the
flat buyers.
I am working with one of the very few trust worthy real
estate companies in India from past 6 years and thus thought of coming up with
this guide for buyers of residential apartments.
I hope to cover all the necessary points / information so
that technical or legal terms used in the real estate filed do not sound Greek
to a lay flat buyer and he is not lost while speaking with the builder. **While doing so I have tried to furnish as
accurate information as possible to best of my knowledge but e & oe (errors
& omissions expected).
Index
| |
Chapter
|
Synopsis
|
Carpet, Built-up, Saleable etc areas & more
| |
Sq. ft., Sq. Mtrs., Guntha, Acres, hectares etc & more
| |
Title & Search Report, NA, 7/12, PR, Blue Print, CC, Index – II, OC, POA etc
| |
Tiles, Doors, Windows, Painting etc
| |
5.
|
Eligibility, EMI, Tenure, Loan Transfer etc
|
Stamp Duty & registration, TDS, ST, VAT etc
| |
RERA, Flat Inspection, Project Reviews etc
| |
Chapter 1: Basic concepts &
definitions
For the sake of our understanding, let’s consider a XYZ
building, having just 2 flats, with club house, gym and swimming pool (mind you
it’s highly impractical to have club, gym & pool just for two flats).
Now if we take out an individual flat, it will look like
this:
Now, let’s get clarity on few very basic terminologies of the
construction industry:
1.
Area (क्षेत्रफळ):
= Length X Breadth of a rectangle or
a square.
2.
Carpet Area (चटई क्षेत्रफळ):
a. All the area bound by or inside
the external walls of your house is the carpet area of your house.
b. Popularly defined as the usable area
or the area of the flat where one can actually lay a carpet.
c. But I feel this definition is
misleading as carpet area covers not just liveable area but also
bathrooms, enclosed balconies and internal walls too! (Yes, as
per the guide lines of newly formed Real Estate Regulatory Authority of India Act).
d. As a trade practise, builder measures
the Carpet area, from one un-plastered and unpainted wall to another
un-plastered and unpainted wall. Thus carpet area of your finished flat
(plastered & painted) will be slightly
less than the builder declared carpet area.
3.
Built-up Area:
a. = Carpet Area + area under
external walls (thickness of the external walls).
b. Roughly speaking, if you decide to
tie a rope around the external walls of your house, then the area covered with
the rope would be your built-up area.
c. Generally built-up area is 5 – 10%
more than carpet area, depending upon the thickness of your external walls.
d. These days, external walls are 6
inches thick where as internal walls are 4 inches thick.
e. Most of the builders don’t mention
this area in their communication as neither rate nor cost is derived from the
Built-up area and no law makes it compulsory to do so.
f.
Thus
one can easily ignore this area unless & until one is buying a bungalow or
a row house.
4.
Super Built-up / Saleable area (विक्रीयोग्य क्षेत्रफळ):
a. = Built-up Area + Part of a common
area proportionate to the carpet area of your flat.
b. Common area includes staircases,
lifts, common lobbies, car parks, over head tanks, sewage treatment plant &
amenities like club, gym, pool, garden etc.
That fuss over saleable area
·
Ideally,
combined super built-up area of all the flats of a particular project should
not be more than the whole area dedicated to common use.
·
But
one project might have very small area under common use while another will have
a huge area dedicated to common use thus making it impossible to decide a
fixed percentage of a common area to be charged over and above the carpet
area.
·
In
absence of any fixed laws to define it, there is no control on how much a
builder can charge over and above the carpet area of an individual flat.
·
Currently,
Pune builders charge 30% to 45% higher than the carpet area where as Mumbai
builders charge it anywhere from 40% to as high as 70%.
·
To
tackle this disparity, government had come up with the law making it illegal
to sale the property on any area other than the carpet area.
·
With
this most of the Mumbai builders started charging the customers on carpet area
by increasing their actual rate by a respective percentage to accommodate the
lost square feet of saleable area. Making it perfectly legal as it is a
seller’s prerogative to decide the price of his product. Pune builders are
still catching up on this trend as they are affraid that Pune buyer’s won’t
accept the inevitable high rate because of this adjustment. Currently, though
Pune builders charge on saleable area, it’s only the carpet area which is
mentioned in all the legal documents with a lump sum cost and no rate / sq.
ft. Again – a perfectly legal way to do so. (Very soon they will also pick up
the Mumbai tend).
·
Now
in this scenario, what a lay customer
can or should do is forget the deceiving rates, consider the ‘all inclusive
cost’ of the property (lump sum cost) and decide if you feel it is okay to pay
that cost for the said property (as you would do for a re-sale property).
5. Balcony (सौध):
a. I think all of us understand this
term. But if we still decide to define it, I shall define it as below:
b. An area (mostly) protruding from the
main building elevation and not bound by the full length wall from at least one
(front) side is called balcony.
c. There is another criterion to define
it. It is called a balcony of the flat if there is a balcony exactly above
& below it of the respective flats above and below your flat.
d. In Maharashtra, it is illegal to
enclose the balcony so as to convert it in to a small room. If someone
complains against this then local authority might take a strict action of
demolishing the illegal enclosure and impose a fine.
 |
| Balconies |
6. Terrace:
a. It is a balcony with nothing
immediately above or below it.
b. i.e. a building will have terraces on
alternate floors at the same spot.
c. i.e. if you are living on 3rd
floor then there will be a terrace on 1st floor and on 5th
floor but not on 2nd & 4th floors.
d. In Maharashtra, it is illegal to
cover the terrace with a roof (even if it is a foldable owning) or to
enclose the terrace to convert it in to a small room. If someone complains
against this then local authority might take a strict action of demolishing the
illegal enclosure and impose a fine.
 |
| Terraces |
7. Top Terrace (गच्ची):
a. It is the top most floor of any
building, common to all the residents.
b. These days it is illegal to sale /
buy the top terrace of the building.
8. Enclosed Balcony:
a. Balcony covered from all sides is called enclosed balcony. Thus it
is very much a part of your carpet area.
b. If you closely notice the sanctioned
plan of your building, you might fine one enclosed balcony in your plan too.
c. It is perfectly legal to cover it
or make a liveable space out of it and that’s why the name. It is very much a part
of your carpet area.
d. As enclosed balcony forms part of
your room, I couldn’t find a suitable picture to illustrate here.
9. Sanctioned Plan / Blue Print:
It is a 2D (Two dimensional)
drawing / top view of your building / residential project as approved by
local authorities (Municipal corporation / gram panchayat etc).
 |
| Sanctioned Plan |
10. Plinth:
A Slab at the ground level of
your building (after excavation) is called plinth.
 |
| Plinth Work |
 |
| Construction Terminologies (Credit: as seen in the picture) |
Next: Chapter 2 - Units & Measurements
Educational!
ReplyDeleteDhanyawad Sir!
Delete