Builders truant, buyers fight

A large number of home buyers in Noida Extension, who had booked their flats before the controversy surrounding the sale of land in the area erupted, are now slugging it out with developers to save their flats at a time when they should have been preparing for their house warming ceremonies.

A majority, who were to get their flats by December 2012, are now knocking at every door in a desperate bid to ensure that developers do not cancel their allotments. "The developers are trying every trick with the original set of buyers to ensure that their allotment can somehow be cancelled. They have gone to the extent of hinting rude behaviour could invite cancellations," said Sweta Bharti a member of Noida Extension Flat Owners Welfare Association (NEFOWA), which is fighting the battle on behalf of the flat owners. Another member of NEFOWA adds that a large number of complaints have been received against five companies — Paramount, Palm Olympics, Supertech, Devika Builders and Earth Infrastructure.

"Many companies have cancelled allotments of various buyers who are from smaller cities. Their voices are not registered, as a large number of them are not a part of our association directly," said Indrish Gupta, another member.

Modus operandi

Buyers allege that developers are using all available options to ensure that the original set of buyers are divested of their flats, which can then be resold at a higher rate. In a majority of the cases, the consumers are faced with a Hobson's choice. With a number of these developers having defaulted on the payment to be made to the Greater Noida Authority, banks are not disbursing loans to buyers of these projects. This has resulted in buyers falling back on payments, a pretext used by builders to threaten cancellation of allotments.

Information sought under RTI shows that Earth Infrastructure, Devika Builders and Palm Olympia have defaulted on payments to the authority. "Every bank comes to the authority for no-objection certificate before disbursing loans. Now, if the builder has defaulted on payments to the authority, the banks will not disburse loans," said a senior official of the Greater Noida Authority.

... contd.

ALSO READ

Watch out for those offers, they can be risky

How to handle home loan defaults

Senior living comes of age

Gold takes a beating, will property prices follow?