Individual House for sale in Bangalore | Apartments for rent in Bangalore | Plots for sale in Bangalore | House for rent in Bangalore
Having no financial constraints, one may
prefer to buy an independent house, in which case he will be the exclusive
master of his house, as opposed to the owner of a flat in an apartment building since he has to share
certain common areas and facilities along with other flat owners in the
apartment building who have an equal right in respect of these common areas and
facilities. Not only this, each of the flat owners is totally stranger to the other with different life-styles and language.
Therefore, a flat owner has to basically understand that buying a flat is
incomparable to the buying of an independent house.
Due to such diversity in living styles
of buyers of flats in an apartment building and the rights, obligations and
duties of each apartment owner to other owners and to avoid chaos, confusion
and misunderstanding amongst them, the Government of Karnataka has enacted the
'Karnataka Apartment Ownership Act, 1972,' (K.A.O.Act, 1972) which forms the
basis for formation of an Apartment Owners Society or Association. An apartment
owner has to consider the following:
Choosing the Builder
The first and foremost aspect that an
intending purchaser of an apartment/flat unit has to consider is to identify
and select a reputed firm of builders. Since huge sums of money are invested in
buying a flat choosing a builder who by
'market reputation' is trustworthy could give
protection to the investment. In
this regard the following points may be considered:
a) Check up whether the builder has
reputation of maintaining quality yardsticks in the construction of an apartment building.
b) Check up whether the builder adheres to the time schedule? Delay
in delivery of possession by the builder
may prove quite expensive for the buyer.
c) Find out from the previous buyers
about the Builder's attitude, trustworthiness,
helpfulness etc.
d) Verify the title deeds regarding the
ownership of land on which the apartment building is proposed to be
constructed. In this connection, the Builder may be insisted upon to make
available the following documents for
verification :-
i) Copies of all land documents for
scrutiny starting from the original site
allocation to the buying party of the first sale and all subsequent sales
thereafter,
ii) Possession certificate,
iii) Latest Tax paid receipt,
iv) Khata
certificate from the Municipality,
v) Encumbrance certificate.
e) Insist upon furnishing a list of buyers of other apartment units in the same building with details of
sale consideration received from them for their apartments. Also find out
whether any of the purchasers has been given any extra advantages in the
apartment building;
The Builder will have to inform the apartment unit holders
about the need for formation of a Apartment Owners Association/Society under
the K.A.O. Act, 1972, to be formed after
the 'completion certificate' is received.
The above Act also forbids the builder
to give possession to any buyer to occupy before the 'completion certificate'
is obtained from the municipality. The Act referred to above also mentions
about the advance payment amounts asked for by the builder.
Basement parking area
Logically builders cannot charge for the
basement parking land, because the land price is already included in the cost
of the apartment. Every apartment owner automatically owns a certain percentage
of the plot on which the building is built when buying a flat. This proportion
of land ownership is shown in the "Deed of Declaration,' which the builder
has to execute and register for the Society to be formed. However, no apartment
owner can claim exclusive ownership of any particular part of the basement area
as their own, because these are known as 'Common Areas' in the Karnataka
Apartment Ownership Act, 1972.
Apartment on the terrace floor
Most apartments built on the terrace
floor, are usually unauthorized since such constructions shall have no building
plan sanction from the competent authority. Therefore, the flat purchaser
should get this aspect cleared from the builder as to whether there would be
any construction on the terrace. Similarly, the purchaser has to go through the
building plan sanction order issued by the municipal authorities before he
finalizes any deal with the property developer.
Maintenance costs
Buyers for whom recurring costs are of
no consequence may want more facilities on the large residential property.
However, many buyers may look carefully at the monthly maintenance costs they
are to incur for the facilities offered. Therefore, apartment buyers need to
pay a close attention to the numerous facilities and attractions, the builder
is offering in the project. This may include
i) Uninterrupted water supply
through borewells in the layout;
ii)Large landscaped areas,
iii) Club house, swimming pool, tennis court,
childrens' play park, gym.
iv) Multiple electric points for generator power,
v)
piped gas.
vi) Mini market etc.
All these facilities will have a bearing on
capital costs and monthly maintenance costs for the buyer. We shall examine
these facilities one by one.
i) Bore well : If not used judiciously,
bore wells do dry up. Bore wells are all interconnected underground and so a
great many bore wells go dry and hence cannot supplement the city's main water
supply for long.
ii) Landscaping : In a large property
landscaping is necessarily on an extensive scale which requires water in large
quantities. Therefore the installation of a Sewage Treatment / Water Recycling
plant, becomes a necessity, to generate usable water for landscaping, water
closet lines, etc.
iii) Club house : Club house and its
facilities also consume water in large
quantities. Consider filling the swimming pool once and then connecting a water
filtration plant operating continuously to keep the water clean for swimming.
Builders developing large acres of land
would do the city a great service by installing Sewage Treatment & Water
Recycling plants, on the properties they develop. There will be plenty of
recycled water for large landscaped areas and will save significant quantities
of municipal and bore well water. This would certainly add to monthly maintenances expenses, but the extra purified non-potable, water can very
easily be sold to recover some expenses. Builders will otherwise leave this
water problem for the buyers to solve. Do not forget, water scarcity is an on
going world-wide phenomenon.
iv) Multiple electrical points on
generator : For any extra electrical load, a bigger generator is required,
which means a higher capital cost and therefore a higher, A.M.C. (annual
maintenance cost). When an added cost is not equally useful to those having to
pay for it, then it is an unfair cost. Your apartment may be closed for months,
but you end up paying the higher diesel consumption every month for use of
extra light points on generator power for others.
v) Piped gas : Piped gas in a
residential building of, say, 30 apartments, needs storage space for about 44
cylinders. i.e., one bank of 22 cylinders on tap and the other bank of 22
cylinders awaiting replacement. Gas banks have to be built as per
specifications of the fire department with municipal permissions and licenses.
Municipal inspectors carry out regular checking of the installation.
Does any Society want the added
responsibility of looking after (a high risk of explosion), gas bank in the
compound, or, the basement of the building?
In hotels and hospitals where gas banks
are commonly used, there are full fledged well trained engineering, maintenance
and security departments looking after all operational problems of the
facilities in place. Access to those areas are restricted and closely guarded.
In the case of apartment building,
neither the builder, who offered the facility, nor the gas company that
installed the gas lines in the building, will shoulder the responsibility after
their work was certified by the Fire Brigade department and the municipality.
So, given the Society's inadequately numbered and trained staff, the
responsibility for any Building Society's management committee is huge, with so
many lives in the building and the adjoining neighbours on all sides are at
stake.
vi) Mini Market : Shopping facility
created closeby for daily consumables is a good idea. Check on the plans as to
where it is to be located on the property? Check the ownership clause the shops
have because the builder will have gone and the shop owners may not respect
your need for cleanliness in the area.
Check on garbage disposal planned, both
for the residential property and the shopping facility. Garbage attracts a
number of rodents, animals and birds. This facility should not be planned near
the entry point of the property.
Check the plans also for,
i) Visitors
vehicle parking.
ii) Washroom / toilets, benches for drivers, maintenance staff
and for maid servants etc.
The builders would have worked out a realistic monthly
maintenance cost. Even so, it is necessary to get details of the estimated
maintenance costs as worked out by the developer to ascertain whether the rates
charged are fair and are adopted on a scientific basis. This exercise is more
particularly needed since many reputed builders insist upon making one-time
payment which runs into lakhs of rupees. One should never hesitate or feel embarrassed, to ask for breakup of the figure, from the
builder. The bigger the property, higher the facilities and more the monthly
maintenance costs.
Security
Neither architects, nor builders, bother
much about 'in-built' security for apartments in their designs. Very often, the
architects and builders, are more concerned about the design of a building to
make it attractive rather than how secure the apartments are in their design,
to prevent easy access, from one apartment to another through balconies or the windows.
Nor do Architects and builders look into
the issues of noise filtration from one apartment into the other. Light
switches on common walls, are placed 'back to back,' to reduce the construction
costs. Noise at nights of the loud conversation, T.V. noise etc., passing
through these openings in common walls with adjoining apartments would be quite
disturbing. Many builders, may lower their construction costs by various
methods and the following are some of them:-
1) Reducing floor slab thicknesses than
what is stipulated in the building laws.
2) Reducing ceiling heights of apartments.
3) Reducing room sizes to those as shown
in the plans.
- To prevent these cost saving methods by the developers physically inspect your apartment, including, kitchen and bathrooms and compare details as printed in the brochure given to you.
- Peruse the orders of the National Consumer Commission & other Courts for fees charged for electricity & water connections.
- Make sure that a clause delay in giving possession of your flat because you may need to extend your stay in the place where you may be presently staying, waiting for your new apartment to be ready.
- Many builders may insist for declaration of 'No Claims' from buyers so as to absolve themselves of the penalty for their wrong doings or deficiencies in the apartment building. This is an unfair 'trade practice' and you can refuse to sign such a declaration.
- Make sure that all action for maintain of Apartment Owners Association is taken by the builder in terms of Karnataka Apartment Ownership Act, 1972.
Conclusion
Be mentally prepared to be a 'joint'
owner of certain common areas and facilities in the apartment building. Take
the advice of, or engage a local lawyer for all legal matters when buying an apartment.
List out all documents required for your
records. Check out legality of financial outgoings and firm up the schedule for
payments with the builder, that you have to make.
You should get involved more into the buying
process of your apartment as mentioned above. Apartments which are ready for
occupation, or are occupied could be inspected and checked from the angles as
mentioned above. Go step by step and do not hurry up. After all it costs a lot
of money and above all it is an, 'appreciating asset' for you.
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