BUILDING CONTRACT AGREEMENTS

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An agreement which is entered into by a owner of a site with a contractor for construction of a building is known as building contract agreement.Generally an owner of a site look out for a reputed and reliable builder for construction of building over his property and after finalizing one enters into an building contract agreements 

Building contract agreements are defined as agreements between the contractor and a another person called the owner or the employer for construction of buildings and other structural work proposed to be constructed, which fall within the category of ordinary contracts and are governed by the provisions of Indian Contract Act including the basic rules as envisaged under the said Act such as, competency of the parties to the contract, consent, existence of consideration to the agreement and not against the public policy.

Modes of entering Building contracts

There are two methods which are generally used by the owners and the contractors as detailed below:

Contract entered after inviting tenders: In this method tenders are invited by the owner of the site for 3 or more contractors by advertising or issuing the tender. Thereafter the best tender is choosen and the tender amount is accepted with other terms and conditions. Acceptance by the owner of the property constitutes a valid contract. The agreement should contain all the necessary and mandatory terms and conditions, particulars of the work required to be done and the schedule of quantities and rates in order to constitute a valid contract. This method of agreement is generally followed by the Government, Local authorities, Architects and other public corporations and trusts.

Contract by directly executing agreement:Under this method the agreement is directly entered into by the contractor and the owner. They straight away negotiate and enter into a construction agreement and averments pertaining to the tenders cannot be looked into for evidence unless some ambiguity in the interpretation of recitals in the agreement exists. This method is generally adopted by commercial firms or individuals.

Format of the agreement:The architect will also have a construction agreement which will be in the printed form wherein blanks are filled in by hand or some provisions are altered by hand, if necessary.While doing so it must be kept in mind that that there should be no discrepancies between the written words or those in printed.In case of any inconsistencies or discrepancies the written words will prevail over the printed words as the the words filled in the blanks will express the intention of the parties.

Appointment of an Architect: An architect is immediately appointed who has to be duly qualified after the search for the contractor is over or after the contractor is finalized. The mode of entering into an agreement depends upon the architect and the contractor. The architect prepares preliminary drawings and estimates and then prepares working drawings and specifications and bills of quantities and other documents relevant for the contract.In order to carry out the day to day supervision of the work, a clerk of works or resident engineer is appointed and also to see that the instructions of the Architect and structural engineer are complied with by the contractor.

Types of Building Contracts:

Building contracts are generally of four types as listed below

Lump sum contract: Under this type of contract, a mutual negotiation is arrived in between the parties whereby the contractor agrees to carry out the work for a fixed amount irrespective of anything else. This method is not advisable as it may lead to a lot of confusion.

Items rate contract: In this type of contract work is divided into several items of work and the contractor quotes price of each item including the remuneration that will be paid in accordance with the work carried out at the rates agreed upon, which can be assessed with the help of a qualified Architect or a Civil Engineer.

Percentage contract: In this type of contract a percentage of amounts on the total actual cost of the building is paid to the contractor as agreed earlier.

Cost plus percentage contract: In this category, the contractor gets the actual cost of work as well as certain percentage over and above the said cost which is accepted by the owner.

General conditions of a building contract

Apart from the above, the Architect also has to decide on any dispute if arises regarding the construction work and give his decision by issuing a certificate to that effect. Further he also has to administer and keep an check on the daily construction work.

Appointment of Sub-Contractor

A sub contractor can be appointed by a contractor for carrying out either for the whole work or part of the work, with or without the consent of the owner. Privity of contract does not arise between the owner and the sub contractor in cases where the consent of the owner is not obtained and the contractor alone will be liable for all the acts done by the Sub-Contractor.Similarly the Sub-Contractor does not derive any right to raise claim against the owner pertaining to the construction contract.It is advisable to enter into a construction agreement after complying with all the necessary formalities as provided in the statute and the same must be reduced in writing to manifest the specific duties and obligations vested on all the necessary parties as many construction projects are left incomplete due to high construction cost and to lack of co-ordination between the owner, contractor and the architect. It is very important to incorporate all the terms and conditions of the contract clearly to avoid unnecessary dispute and successful completion of the project.

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NEXT STEP AFTER PURCHASE OF PROPERTY

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The activities to be undertaken by the purchaser of immovable property can be broadly classified into: Pre-registration and Post-registration activities.

Pre-registration requirements:Pre-registration activities involve identifying the location of the property, ascertaining the valid and marketable title of the Vendor, Legal scrutiny report, Mode of payment, Sale Agreement, etc. Before registration of the sale deed, it is very important to verify all the relevant documents in original, in order to rule out subsistence of any kind of bank mortgages or encumbrances.

As the purchase of a property involves investment running into lakhs of rupees, availing the services of an Advocate having sufficient experience in property transactions would immensely help the intending purchaser in protecting his right, title and interest in the property.

Post-registration requirements:Post registration activities are the steps to be undertaken by the purchaser after registration of the sale deed. There are certain requirements to be fulfilled in order to get valid title and to exercise ownership over the immovable property by the Purchaser.

The following are the essential activities required to be carried out by the purchaser:

1.To obtain Original Documents:The first and foremost activity to be performed by the purchaser is to obtain original documents of title from the seller and compare them with the Xerox copies, which the purchaser’s advocate would have scrutinized. If the advocate calls for other original documents or certified copies, ensure production of the same.It is always advisable to apply for certified copies of the sale deed. 

2.Encumbrance Certificates: It is also necessary to register the application for updated encumbrance certificate in the Sub-Registrar office on the day of registration itself, which shall be from the date of entering into an agreement to the date of execution of sale deed. 

3.Possession of property: Physical Possession of the property is of vital importance. It is advisable to inspect the property a day ahead of registration to make sure that the property is as per the sale agreement. One of the clauses to be incorporated in the sale agreement is that the Vendor shall hand over vacant possession of the property and the purchaser shall receive all the keys of the property at the time of registration. If need be, one may change the main door lock itself. 

In case of vacant sites, it is necessary to put up a display board with the wordings “This property is owned by………….. Trespassers will be prosecuted”. Fencing of sites or putting up compound walls, though expensive, is preferable. Periodical visits to the site are a must to detect any kind of encroachment.

4.Transfer of Khatha and Khatha Extract of the property: After registration of the sale deed, the purchaser must ensure that the Khatha in the records of the local bodies like Gram Panchayath, CMC or the City Corporation is transferred in his name. For such transfer, it is necessary that both the buyer and the seller have to sign the application for transfer of Khatha, which is done simultaneously while signing the sale deed. This is necessary to avoid unnecessary disputes and complications in future.

Duly filled Khatha transfer applications have to be presented before the concerned office, along with a copy of the sale deed and receive necessary acknowledgement.

At the time of execution of sale deed, the Vendor has to sign the following documents:
-> Khatha transfer application,

-> Letter for transfer in favour of the purchaser of Statutory deposits for electricity meter, 

-> Letter for transfer in favour of the purchaser of Statutory deposits for water, sanitary connection, 

-> In case of second hand sale of apartment, letter for transfer of Apartment Membership and Corpus fund has to be obtained by the purchaser from the seller.

The following is the procedure involved for transfer of Khatha:

-> To present an application in the prescribed form in the office of the City/Town Municipality or Corporation having jurisdiction along with the supporting affidavit giving all particulars required in the application.In the affidavit, it is necessary to declare that you are the present owner.

-> To enclose certified copy of the sale deed with the latest tax paid receipt of the property.

-> To furnish Khatha Certificate in the name of your Vendor.

-> The sketch showing the locality giving particulars of the ward or zone, name of the street, etc and deposit the fee fixed.

Local bodies transfer Khatha in the name of the Purchaser after collecting a transfer fee, which is generally 2% of stamp duty paid on the sale deed and issue written confirmation of transfer in the name of the purchaser. While transferring the Khatha, local bodies,re-assess the property and issue assessment notice in the name of the Purchaser. Further, tax paid receipt should be in the name of the new owner. 

For the properties coming within the jurisdiction of BMP, Computerized Khatha Certificate and Khatha Extract will be issued.Khatha Certificate is an authenticated document to prove the ownership and possession of a particular person over the immovable property. While Khatha Extract reflects the actual sital area and built up area, if the building is existing. Further, property tax required to be paid will also be reflected in the Khatha Extract, which will be arrived at after reassessment. 

5.Building License and Plan: If you are intending to make material alterations or proposing to construct a new building on the property acquired by you, it is necessary for you to get the license and plan approved the local bodies within whose jurisdiction your property falls.This can be obtained only after depositing the prescribed fees. In order to get the License with approved plan from the authorities, the Khatha of the property must stand in your name in the revenue records of the concerned local body and up-to-date taxes ought to have been paid. The normal procedure for securing License with approved building plan is to obtain 10 sets of blue prints of plans from licensed architect/building engineer.

Construction has to be commenced after the license is obtained and should be completed within 2 years from the date of obtaining the license and approved plan, which will be stipulated in the Plan itself. However, you can get an extension if the construction could not be completed within the stipulated period. Once the construction of the new building is finished, you must get such a house/building assessed afresh and pay taxes as determined by the concerned revenue authorities.

6.Power connection: After Khatha is transferred in the name of the present owner, the present owner has to ensure as to whether the statutory payments/deposits in respect of the property including the electricity charges are paid within the stipulated time. If fresh or new electricity connection is to be obtained, it is essential to enlist the services of the Licensed Contractor. The amount of deposit to be made depends upon the requisitioned load or number of kilowatts required. In case the property is already serviced with electricity, an application has to be presented by the Purchaser in the prescribed form before BESCOM or other competent authorities having jurisdiction, enclosing an affidavit declaring that you are the present owner and by filling up the particulars required in the application along with the consent letter of the previous owner for such transfer. Subsequently, the electricity meter will be transferred in the name of the Present Owner.

7.Water and Sewage connection:The purchaser should also verify the statutory payments/deposits made by the previous owner and collect such deposit receipts from the seller. For fresh connections, it is desirable to enlist the services of a qualified plumber. In case your property already has water connections, then same procedure as required for change of power connection has to be followed. However, the documents are to be presented before the concerned authority.

8.Corpus Fund and Club Membership: If the purchaser is intending to purchase an apartment, it is also necessary that the vendor has to issue a letter for transfer of corpus fund and club membership in the name of the purchaser.

9.Bank Loan:In case the purchaser wants to avail bank loan then the purchaser is required to deposit all the relevant title documents in original with the Bank and obtain endorsement to that effect from the concerned Bank. However, it is advisable to keep xerox copies of such documents intended to the deposited in the Bank for personal records. 

Thus, mere execution of the sale deed does not automatically confer the title in favor of the purchaser. A person can enjoy legal and peaceful possession and enjoyment of the property only after the post-registration activities are completed.   

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NOISE CONTROL FOR BUILDINGS

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While designing a building, the one aspect that is mostly overlooked is that of Noise control.Noise is injurious both physically and mentally to all human beings. It will be felt in the long run, after having caused irreparable damage. Hence it is vital to bring down the sound levels during construction stages and later too.

The buildings scenario in the country is rapidly changing.The main reason is the proliferation and fast phase of the construction work.All the major cities are witnessing continuous makeover, but this need not be the reason for ignoring certain basic and simple guidelines.Buildings must be in harmony with the five natural elements like earth, fire, water, air and ether and also with the five senses of humankind like sight, hearing, smell, taste and touch. The built environment must be a stress-buster and not a stress-spreader.

Spaces for all varieties of occupation like for entertainment, retail, offices and residences are well planned and designed for visual aesthetics, life safety, comfort and other important aspects, but no attention is paid for acoustics and noise control. The second sense of humans, hearing, which follows that of the visual being the first in order of importance is greatly ignored.

Sound is a very essential element.When the Television is watched in mute mode, all the sensations and melodrama is vanished. But the same sound if excessive, becoming a rough quality of noise, the sense of hearing is not in harmony with the other senses of human beings.This aggravates stress.

Acoustical Problems

In Residences,the distressing and persisting hum of the water pump in the basement amplified through the elevator shaft, the low-flying aircraft rattling windows, flush noise punctuating studies and meditation,the traffic noise piercing through the balcony, the sounds of dialogues and music from the television echoing in the hall are some of the common experiences of disturbing sounds in the residences.

In Office Campuses,In the offices where people spend half of their lives, the jarring hardships they have to endure are many.The central court entrance hall, reverberating with disagreeable combination of loud noises of street noise and visitor voices, the canteen filled with and spilling out the continuous sound of techno-babble, the roof top chiller unit transmitting down the painful vibrations, the recently completed road connection or flyover sending in noise from speeding vehicles even into the hitherto quiet conference room and the unavoidable voice-based call-centres all add to the discomfort of the auditory sense.

Other built spaces,Most of the sound emanating from the general and common sources are unavoidable.The beating and thumping from the disco clubs where people dance to the recorded pop music disturbing the room guests in fashionable and flamboyant star Hotels, the modern elevated light transit railway bringing in the clatter to a studio, noise transfer between the adjacent halls of a multiplex, an action movie with special sound – effects spoiling a peaceful romantic moment or missing out an important announcement in public spaces are some of the resultant problems from noise transference and noise magnification.

Ignoring  Acoustics

Normally most of the architects and civil consultants the prime movers of the design community, place emphasis on the visual and other comforts but often tend to ignore acoustics.Attention is turned towards it only when it becomes a major problem post - occupancy. Very few projects requisition the services of acoustic experts to be on board at the design stage.Most are in the misguided notion that an acoustic expert is required only for special venues like cinemas, auditoria and studios.This is an erroneous view.To understand enjoy and realize the true potential of any built space, the second sense of mankind ie., the hearing must be given its due importance.

To give a similarity, while India had adopted Euro III norms for smoke emission from vehicles, when most of the developed world is on Euro V in acoustics and noise control we were still at Euro I, what the developed world was doing 20 years back. As India's GDP inexorably rises and we fancy ourselves as an economic powerhouse, as we get used to the latest models of laptops, mobile phones, automobiles and home appliances similar to Euro V, we must rapidly upgrade the quality of sound around us to at-least Euro III if not Euro V. This is certainly possible if more emphasis is given to acoustics and noise control in built spaces.

Techniques

Incorporating proper and simple acoustical techniques at the design stage can yield rich dividends.Some of the design techniques that can improve the acoustical experiences of built spaces are enumerated below. The water pump is installed on anti-vibration pads but it is not made sure whether the pipe fittings are rigidly connected to the building structure.If not they will be transferring the pump vibrations.The best answer to this is Resilient pipe mounts.

For low-flying aircraft, it is imperative for the public to lobby for altered flight paths or shifting of airports beyond the outskirts of cities.Most of Asian Capitals like Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur, Singapore, Hongkong, Seoul have done it same could be followed in the case of Mumbai, New Delhi, Bangalore & Hyderabad.

But this is a Herculean task. Till then acoustical gaskets could be provided to the perimeter of thicker glass panes as they are fitted in metal / wooden frames. In addition, acoustical gaskets could be provided to the perimeter of the wall frames that receive the window and door shutters.For avoiding traffic noise the simplest solution for lower floors is to make the boundary of the premises a noise – isolant one.For the upper floors it is best to make the ceiling of the balconies as sound absorbing as possible.

The atrium and the Cafeteria in office campuses will need less of polished surfaces and parallel surfaces. Glazing may be innovatively angled to diffuse the sound waves. Textured paint and glass cloth finishes can help marginally. For tougher cases, modular acoustical panels may be placed strategically. The rooftop chiller units are usually mounted on resilient mounts but it should be seen that the pipelines are also acoustically supported on the building structure.Along with that acoustical louvers might be necessary on the perimeter, as an enclosure, to avoid noise from traveling to the adjacent apartment blocks.

The air conditioning duct layout inside offices should cut the noise at source, the AHU room and attenuators strategically placed at room boundaries. Wall partitions too must go right up to the true roof and not terminate at the false ceiling level.Though that is not the case at call-centres,the partial-height barriers at workstations need to be noise - rated.The height of minimum 600 mm is necessary, otherwise even the best of noise rated barriers will fail.

The most difficult to control are low frequency sound waves. They are offered in maximum doses at discotheques, pubs and night clubs.They possess large wavelengths and need massive surfaces to control them.Hence it is indispensable to have structural discontinuity of the surfaces.The transport noise can be cut down with noise-rated window and doors on the affected surfaces and air-conditioning of the space. Most of the public spaces in the country have deficiency in public address system. Speech intelligibility is very poor.Objective testing for speech intelligibility to current International Standards is the best way to ensure systems integrators install it right.

Endless is the list of acoustics problems and their solutions. Everyone should bear in mind and be aware of the fact that acoustics is a science that can be easily and inexpensively added to any project.Also it is to be accepted that acoustical solutions can be innovatively simple and need not involve elaborate treatment.

A significant observation will be illustrative of this fact.The design community tends to confuse sound absorption and noise isolation. A porous material to absorb sound is required. Quite conversely, a porous material does not block noise.Hence to isolate noise, mass or heavy material that is stiff but dampened is needed. The two are different and usually one material cannot do both unless it is specifically engineered for the purpose.

Observations

For effective noise isolation the operation of mere “double-glazing” in windows won't do. The important aspect is to see the windows being properly noise - rated and installed. Like that the mere word “acoustic - lining” in AC ducts does not guarantee HVAC noise control unless the system is professionally designed and installed.The wrong specs can also lead to deterioration in indoor Air quality [IAQ] causing sick building syndrome.

The mere word “double wall” does not guarantee acoustic privacy since the walls may be rigidly coupled to the structural column. Split columns and expansion joints might be the answer.The acoustics companies resort to all types of glib talk, listening to which designers are attracted at the initial stage and are then disappointed when results are less than satisfactory. Architects could very well go back to the module on acoustics taught in architectural and civil courses or call in an acoustics expert.

The excellent advantages should be given to space occupants not only in floor finishes, furniture and window, doors but in acoustic terms too. Builders should deliver sounds caped complex. Premium consumers are willing to pay the additional costs incurred since they aspire and long for a world-class experience.

Each and every one of the citizens of the country must inculcate in them the habit of making less noise.It might be honking less on the streets.We are witnessing on the roads drivers honking when the traffic lights just turn green. Everybody will automatically move ahead at least after a few seconds delay. That momentary impatience leading to unnecessary honking should be controlled. The door may be closed gently behind us. One can lower the voice while speaking on their cell phones which are conspicuous everywhere.

The builders, if they deliver acoustically–enhanced and pleasant spaces gradually the Earth could turn into a quieter, better place to line, work and enjoy.

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