Hyderabad: More than half the complaints filed in 2014-15 with the state consumer forum were for “deficiency in service” by builders, with most of them dealing with “non-delivery of flat possession in the promised time,” said officials.
Experts said that the failure to mobilise finances was causing delays in delivery of properties on time, as clearing of bills got delayed along with construction.
Ms Nivedita, an employee with a private firm, said that even after paying all the installments on time, “lift, amenities, compound wall, parking, painting among others were not completed when the builder told us that the flat was ready and demanded final payment. I refused as it was clear that the apartment would need at least three more months to be completed. I suffered monetary loss as I had to pay the EMIs.”
Many buyers say that the builders blame the GHMC for delaying permissions, but corporation officials brushed off the allegations.
“In most of the cases, builders of multi-storeyed apartments have to pay at least Rs 5 lakh to Rs 10 lakh for permission and then they delay it.
Thus, the applications lie pending and are renewed only when the entire payment is done,” said a GHMC official, adding that it was usually the small builders or developers who delayed fee payments.
“Post recession, there was a kind of slump in the real estate market and the delay might be because of some backlog projects. The new projects seem to be doing fine and developers are delivering,” said Shekar Reddy, former national president of CREDAI.
Mr Reddy added that branded builders could not risk damage to their reputation by delaying projects. It was usually newcomers who failed to calculate the prices correctly faced such issues. Experts ask people to do their homework before buying property and do a background check on the developer.
“A flat being sold at lower than the market price may have a lot of issues including quality aspects. I would suggest that people check the occupancy certificate given by the government after the completion of a project,” Mr Reddy said.
