Flat Buyer’s Guide - Chapter 1 Basic Concepts & Definitions

Recent Belleza Blue case in Pune (2^nd 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
1. Basic concepts & definitions	Carpet, Built-up, Saleable etc areas & more
2. Units & Measurements	Sq. ft., Sq. Mtrs., Guntha, Acres, hectares etc & more
3. Legal Documents	Title & Search Report, NA, 7/12, PR, Blue Print, CC, Index – II, OC, POA etc
4. Material & Specifications	Tiles, Doors, Windows, Painting etc
5. Home Loan	Eligibility, EMI, Tenure, Loan Transfer etc
6. Government Duties & Taxes	Stamp Duty & registration, TDS, ST, VAT etc
7. Miscellaneous	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 3^rd floor then there will be a terrace on 1^st floor and on 5^th floor but not on 2^nd & 4^th 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

सैराट झालं जी.... ('Sairat' - Movie Review)

A movie that makes you taste all ‘Nava-rasas’ of the literature! 

Our Sanskrut literatures believe that, emotions generated from any piece of an art could be classified as per one or more of the (नवरस, Navras) 9 essences of emotions namely: (श्रुंगार, Shrungar) Love / Erotic, (हास्य, Hasya) Humorous, (करुणा, Karuna) Compassion / tragedy, (रौद्र, Roudra) Fury / Anger, (वीर, Veer) Heroic / Bravery, (भयानक, Bhayanak) Horror / Terror, (बिभत्स, Bibhatsa) Disgust, (अद्भूत, Adbhoot) Wondrous, (शांत, Shant) Peace / tranquillity. 

But ‘Sairat’ (meaning स्वैर, licentious or self-willed) is one such movie that has optimum doses of all of the above Navrasas. Yes! All of them!

Sairat - in theaters near you!

Movie starts with a love story of college going teens, takes you along through their struggle till happy anti climax. But the climax is what that shatters you to the core. Though this climax is a take on one of the horrendous social issue of our time, it comes as a natural progression of the story. Marketing this movie on this social issue would have been a tempting strategy but makers like the movie are genuine to the core and thus have abstained from discussing it simply because this story isn’t for the issue; this issue is simply an outcome of the story. Till last 5 – 10 minutes no one can predict the end and thus even I won’t discuss the issue so as to keep your interest intact.

There is nothing new on story front but screen play & presentation is so strong that it keeps you involved with the protagonists. It never leaves any loose thread. Like protagonists, all the secondary characters also reach their natural end in the story. We know what happens to friends and parents of the protagonists after they run from the village. It always sticks to the logic so much so that we know how the protagonists manage their daily cores while living on the road. It is deeply rooted in realty. Villains and protagonists don't do anything unrealistic or larger than life. Goons of the villain don't roam the village roads with dozens of revolvers in their hand. Actully there is just one local made revolver and just one gun shot in the entire movie. It catches the raw feel of the village life without losing the touch with the multiplex crowd. Plus as I have already said, it has all, love, humour, fear, suspense, disgust etc etc

Sairat

Credit goes to the vision of actor, director, writer, producer, casting director of the movie Mr. Nagraj Popatrao Manjule (this is his 2^nd film, first being critically acclaimed ‘Fandry’). Credit goes to pool of talented actors like Rinku Rajguru (Aarchi – female lead), Akash Thosar (Parshya – male lead), Tanaji Galgude (Balya), Arbaj Shaikh (Salya), Dhananjay Nanavare (Mangya), Anuja Mulay (Ani). All of them have done such an incredible job that no one will believe that this is their first attempt of acting (not just in film but acting filed as such). All of them are ably supported by the known actors like Suresh Vishwakarma (Tatya) & Chhaya Kadam (Suman). Credit goes to the locations. Credit goes to cinematographer Sudhakar Reddy for making this film a visual treat. And finally, credit goes to producers Nitin Keni and Nikhil Sane too.

It is evident from - all shows running house full that, all of them have made a film that will appeal to classes & masses both .

Akash Thosar & Rinku Rajguru in Sairat

 It is a full blown love story of Aarchi and Parshya and thus it won’t do justice to the efforts of Rinku and Akash if I casually mention their names along with other actors. In fact both of them are so effortless and natural that they will keep on reminding you some or the other underdog you might know or some friend or cousin of yours. Rinku got her share of appreciation with National Award (there seems to be some link between national awards and Nagaraj Manjule. 2 actors from his 1^st film bagged national awards while Rinku is the 3^rd one to bag it) but I felt Akash also deserved a National Award. I was pleasantly surprised to see his performance in a scene as an abusive partner. The violent streak of a generally shy Parshya is quite a shock to the audience. Both - shy smile and heart breaking tears of his will tell you his worth as an actor. If he learns pure Puneri Marathi, I bet, he can be the next Marathi super star.

Now on negative side, film is bit lengthy. It’s almost 3 hours long. Editor Kutub Inamdar should have reduced it by 20 – 25 minutes for making it evenly paced. Though Ajay Atul songs for the film are chart buster hits, I felt music is overpowering the lyrics. Suraj Pawar (Prince) should have done something more to bring out the villainous side of his character. All his scenes of hard hitting slaps are bang on. 

These few points should be easily ignored in front of the high entertainment value of the film.

I have also read few reviews which say that this film though good, reminded them of some other movies like Ishqzade but I didn't find it similar to any other film. In fact it is different from other movies with similar plot.

Congratulations team Manjule!

Sairat

Is Moksha the real end??!!

We Hindus believe in the philosophy of rebirth i.e. any living being after his death will be reborn depending upon his karmas (actions & deeds). We further believe that this life itself is the reason behind the agony of a living being and Moksha is the answer to get rid of this agony.

Moksha or Salvation is a state of eternal bliss where a living being (in the form of a soul) unites with ‘Brahman’ – a supreme being and frees itself from the vicious cycle of birth-life-death & rebirth. This is supposed to be the ultimate aim of a being and thus the end.

Now before we move on to my question, that is, ‘is Moksha the real end?’, I would like to tell you about two books* I was simultaneously reading a month back.

The 1^st one was ‘Bhavarth Dyaneshwari’ by Mr. Vijay Pandhare (it is a rendition of ‘Dyaneshwari’ in present day Marathi -‘Dyaneshwri’ being the in depth commentary on ‘Bhagvat Gita’ in 11^th century Marathi by the greatest Mrathi poet ‘Saint Dyaneshwar’. Whereas Bhagvat Gita is said to be the gist of Hindu philosophy as told by Lord Krishna to his worrier friend Arjuna in epic Mahabharata). The 2^nd book was ‘The Theory of everything’ by the greatest mind of our times – Mr. Stephen Hawking (it covers & explains the origin of universe right from historical beliefs up till present day ideas).

You will surely wonder of all the books in the universe, why these two?

I have always beleived that you can never separate Science (as we know it in present day) from Hindu spiritual knowledge and these two books will lead us to our answer.

Let’s start by understanding in short, how the universe is formed by parallely looking at what’s being told in above two books:

Sr. No.	As understood by modern day scientists from 17th to 20th century	As told in 11th century Dyaneshwari & age old Sanskrit Scriptures before that	Old Concepts & the respective scientific terms of present era
1.	Big Bang - It’s a stage of singularity where the universe had very high energy density and thus very high pressures & temperatures where all laws of physics (including general relativity) break down. Big Bang Expansion	God / Brahman / Parmatma is dormant or sleeping - a stage of nothingness	Brahman = total amount of energy in the universe (remember law of conservation of energy?) = amalgamation of positive & negative energy forces
2	Due to high pressure, world rapidly (exponentially to be more precise) starts expanding & cooling	** Prakruti (a phenomenon responsible for this illusion called world) comes in to play & by taking a disadvantage of dormant Brahman, catalyzes expansion of nothingness – state of illusion (Maya)	Prakruti = Negative energy force (Remember electric circuit diagrams we studied in schools? Though we traditionally show flow of electricity from +ve terminal of the battery to the –ve terminal, it’s actually a –ve terminal from where the electricity flows similarly the creation process starts from -ve Prakruti) or = antimatter (actually Prakruti creates humans, & traditionally we called ourselves - matter)
3	Because of gravitational force of subatomic particles & simple atoms released through exponential cooling & expansion, the pace of expansion is slowed down to give rise to galaxies & stars	Dormant Brahman awakens due to this expansion and is now called Lord Vishnu. Lord Brahma manifests from him & creates the world	Hindu trinity = positive energy force (electrical circuit is complete only if the current reaches the opposite terminal of the battery) or = matter (to balance the antimatter) Brahma Vishnu Mahesh (Shiva)
4	All laws of physics / chemistry / biology now hold their ground in this relatively cool universe Life becomes the reality with human beings being the last to be created by nature. Creature dies and scope of modern science ends here.	Lord Vishnu takes the responsibility of maintenance of the world Soul – a minuscule part of Brahman is born through 84 Lakh creatures (including human). Depending upon Karma’s of a creature, it may be reborn as a lower / higher level creature or a human with a bad / better life or finally might attain Moksha after death in human life.
5	Today modern scientists have started believing that this expansion would stop some time in future; the world would then start contracting & will ultimately collapse in to a new Big Bang. But still we have not found a way to prove this collapse.	Lord Shiva – the third god of Hindu trinity – a primordial yogi will take the responsibility to destroy this world by contraction. Brahman could now again go in to its dormant stage by collapsing in to nothingness
6	Fate of a new big bang is still to be discovered by our modern scientists. But in all these stages scientists still give a scope to the ‘Will of a God’ to create the universe as we see it today.	Prakruti will again take over & repeat this cycle umpteen no of times – as Hindus believe that there is no end or no beginning to the Brahman. Further reading: Ekeshwarwad-aani-law-of-conservation-of-energy	Prakruti taking over Brahman is nothing but the proof of a law of thermodynamics which states that – ‘nothing is perfect in this world’ (i.e. not even the all encompassing Brahman. Otherwise possibility of a disturbance in its sleep wouldn’t have arisen).

 

Now, 'the cycle of the universe continues from its birth to rebirth', means, even if a soul has attended a moksha in this cycle of the universe, it might fall in the trap of ‘Prakruti’ in the next cycle and might again be born as a living being & suffer till it again attains Moksha.

This implies, Moksha is surely not an end. This in turn means, all the efforts a particular human soul takes by walking on the strenuous path of salvation are futile.

But that's not the case. Following two principles (from old & modern world) will make you understand why all our scriptures still emphasize on Moksha:

Sr. No.	As told in age old Sanskrit Scriptures	As understood by modern day scientists
1.	ॐ पूर्णमदः पूर्णमिदं पूर्णात्पुर्णमुदच्यते पूर्णश्य पूर्णमादाय पूर्णमेवावशिष्यते ॥ ॐ शान्तिः शान्तिः शान्तिः ... Above verse correctly describes the Brahman as below: It is complete. Only completeness can manifest from the complete. Even if a completeness is removed from the complete, a complete is what that will remain Ones a particular soul is united with the complete Brahman, its individual identity ceases to exist & it becomes the complete Brahman. Once this individual identity is lost, whatever happens to the Brahman in the next cycle of universe ceases to be that particular soul’s concern.	Present day ‘Black holes’ are the miniscule models of Big Bang Singularity. Black holes are the patches in the fabric of the universe with such a high density that even a light (fastest in the universe) can’t escape it – giving them a dark appearance and the name. It is mathematically proved that if some matter collapses in to this high gravity black hole, owing to ‘Law of conservation of Energy’, equal amount / quantity of energy / matter is freed from the black hole maintaining its equilibrium. Thus even with this logic, once soul units with Brahman, some other part of the Brahman will be born as a creature making this soul free from the cycle of birth & rebirth.

Thus in short: Moksha is definitely not an end but an individual soul need not bother about the real end as there isn't any!!!

PS: * I don’t claim to fully understand these two books completely. This blog is crux of whatever little I have understood from these two books.

 ** There is another less scientific story of the creation of the universe which says, ‘God was alone & he thought of becoming many’ & thus created the universe.