Hyderabad: Despite strict rules against building extra floors in violation of sanctioned plans, many builders continue to build illegal floors and sell them to gullible customers, assuring them that nobody will come asking questions.
When this reporter called up realtors posing as a potential customer, one realtor offered flats on both ‘official’ and ‘unofficial’ floors, even quoting a slight difference in price between the two.
Asked if one wouldn’t get into trouble later over illegal floors, the realtor was confident that even the government’s demolition orders for such floors wouldn’t be a problem. Unsuspecting buyers continue to fall prey to such assurances.
The builder’s confidence often stems from the knowledge that the building inspection officer has been paid off to skip the property.
“As per rules, one has to build as per permissions granted and obtain an Occupancy Certificate. Only then, one is eligible for water and power supply,” said Shekar Reddy, a former president of CREDAI (Confederation of Real Estate Developers' Associations of India).
“When the building is completed, the architect submits a completion certificate stating that the developer has built the property as per the sanctioned plan. Based on that, the corporation officer reviews the project and grants the Occupancy Certificate only if the building is as per plan. This certificate is submitted to the sub-registrar’s office, and entries made in the log books,” Mr. Reddy explained.
If one has built extra floors despite all these verifications and certifications, the government has full rights to demolish the illegally built floor. “Apart from demolishing the property, the builder’s licence will also be cancelled,” he said.
Consumers overlook all this and fall prey to such builders many a time. They should consult an advocate and do a background check of the property as well as the builder before buying a property, Mr. Reddy said. Banks also check the documents and legal status of a property before granting loan to buy it.
