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Precaution to be taken before Purchase of Flat

With the advent of the Apartment culture in Bangalore, people now prefer to own a flat rather than an independent house. Taking advantage of this situation, a number of Promoters have sprung up for construction of apartments. There are various instances wherein the purchasers are cheated by the promoters. It is very important, therefore, to take all the necessary precautions before proceeding to purchase a flat.

PRELIMINARY STEPS :

Before proceeding to negotiate for purchase of a flat, it is important to survey the market, study the development of the area and the infrastructure and to investigate about the availability of electricity, water, good roads and other related civic amenities.

SELECTION OF THE PROMOTER :

Upon satisfied with the availability of basic amenities in the locality, the purchaser should hunt for a good promoter, since there are only a few promoters who are genuine and enjoy good reputation. A promoter may be a Firm, a Company, a Co-operative Society, a group of persons or even an individual. In all these cases, the credentials and antecedents of the Promoter have to be verified.

NATURE OF THE LAND :

If the land is basically an agriculture land, it is necessary that the land has to be converted from agricultural to non-agricultural purpose after following certain mandatory procedures envisaged under the Land Reforms Act. Apart from this, if a Layout has been formed on such a land, it is important to verify the authority which has approved the formation of the layout since only a few of the authorities are competent to approve layouts.

Precautions

TITLE OF THE LAND :

Tracing the title of the land is the foremost exercise to be done by the purchaser. The Promoters are acquiring either vacant land fit for construction of apartments or a site with a house thereon, on which apartments are constructed after demolishing the house existing on the land. However, in both the cases, sale deed and other agreements, if any, entered into between the land owner and the developer are to be thoroughly examined. The following are the essential documents required to be verified:

  1. All documents of title relating to the land which are in the custody of the Promoter on which Flats or Apartments are constructed.
  2. Encumbrance Certificate for specific number of years in order to rule out any subsisting right, interest, title or claim of any person on any part of the land.
  3. Construction plan approved by the Competent Authority and specifications of the Apartments built or to be built.
  4. Availability of electricity/ power supply and other civic amenities.
  5. Details about the statutory payments made towards the land.
  6. Certificate issued by an Advocate confirming the marketable title of the land.

AGREEMENT TO SELL :

Before making payment towards the sale consideration, the purchaser should enter into an agreement with the Promoter, agreeing to pay the advance. It is generally seen that such an agreement will be one sided having no defence to the purchaser, rather than being a fair agreement. Apart from the agreement to sell, usually another agreement for construction is also executed between the promoter and the purchaser and it is very important to constantly watch whether the construction is in progress as agreed to or not, without which no further advance should be paid to the promoter. The agreement should contain the following covenants:

  • If the building is to be constructed, the liability of the promoter to construct in accordance with the building plan and specifications.
  • Accurate details about the carpet area of the Flat including the areas of balconies to be mentioned separately.
  • Price of the flat, including proportionate price for the undivided share for the common area and facilities.
  • Actual extent and nature of the common area and facilities and the respective percentage of undivided interest in the common areas.
  • The date of delivery of physical possession of the Flat or Apartment.

Apart from this, the purchaser should also make periodical inspection to the site to know the quality of the materials used, and the progress of construction of the Apartment.

WATER FACILITIES :

The purchaser should, as the foremost priority, verify about the availability of water supply. The purchaser should confirm whether there is perennial water supply either from the Municipality or through bore-wells. If the water supply is through bore wells dug in the entire stretch of land, there may not be uninterrupted water supply when the bore wells dry up. Abundant caution has to be exercised by the purchaser while ensuring availability of the water.

SANITATION :

Underground sewerage is provided in most of the cities and in a few places, underground pipes are being used. In such case, there are chances of choking of such sewerage pipes due to large quantity of water flow and the waste material passed through such water. The sanitary facilities, particularly the working of the underground sewerage, are to be checked carefully.

RESPONSIBILITIES OF THE PROMOTER :

It is the duty of the Promoter to disclose all the vital facts regarding the title of the land, nature of construction, etc in writing particularly on the following aspects:

  1. Title of the Promoter over the land on which the Apartments are to be constructed.
  2. Encumbrance Certificate pertaining to the land or building.
  3. Construction Plans and specifications approved by the competent authority.
  4. Particulars in respect of the designs and the materials which have been proposed to be used in the construction of the building.

DECLARATION BY THE PROMOTER :

Before the Promoter proceeds to undertake construction activities, a declaration has to be submitted to the office of the competent authority, disclosing all the required information such as:

  1. Description of the land on which the improvements are made for construction of apartments, exact location where the land is situate and nature of rights as to whether it is free-hold or lease-hold.
  2. Particulars about Encumbrances.
  3. Description of the building stating the number of floors and basements, parking area etc.,
  4. Building materials to be used for the construction.
  5. Number of Apartments or to be constructed and the Apartment numbers.
  6. Description of the common areas and facilities.
  7. Value of the land and of each Apartment and the percentage of undivided interest in the common areas.

ASSOCIATION OF THE APARTMENTS :

Upon purchase of a flat, the purchaser will have to accustom himself to a new culture in which a number of facilities like staircase, lifts, open space parking lawns, water sewerage and other faculties are to be shared along with other flat owners. In order to help the purchaser to co-ordinate with the other flat owners, an Association has to be formed so as to administer and enjoy the property to the best advantage of all the Flat Owners. Hence, it has been made mandatory for all the flat owners to become the members of the Association formed by the Apartment Owners, which is governed by the Karnataka Apartment Ownership Act, 1972 and the rules made there under.

A purchaser intending to purchase a flat has to take all the above precautions before negotiating to purchase. This will help in avoiding various problems that are likely to arise in future.