Hyderabad: The Telangana Real Estate Regulatory Authority (TGRERA) on Friday cautioned people against buying properties in pre-launch sales and against making investment decisions based on social media advertisements alone.
Since its inception, the real estate regulator received 1,872 complaints and 1,186 orders were issued. In the last 44 days, it issued 30 orders.
“People should buy only RERA registered properties. In the guise of the pre-launch sales, some developers have sold flats which were being built on disputed lands and fraudulent survey numbers,” said Srinivasa Rao, member-2 of the state RERA Tribunal.
According to the officials of RERA, the most common violations reported include fraudulent survey numbers, pre-launch sales, delaying the date of project completion, not allotting car parking, constructing houses and flats in the area marked for amenities and selling them.
“Any area marked as an open space in the layout should be used for amenities. However, some developers are constructing structures in such areas and keeping them under their control to make additional money,” he explained.
Multiple interviews of complainants by Deccan Chronicle revealed that some real estate companies took money from customers but did not register the plots to the buyers and made them run from pillar to post. A buyer was handed over the flat after eight years when he approached the RERA.
The buyers also complained about the building not being adequately painted, leakages within the premises, and the lift installed in the building being of insufficient capacity.
RERA officials warned buyers against real estate advertisements on social media platforms. They said as soon as they click on the link, they are directed to a WhatsApp page where the property seeker is sent videos of projects which do not exist. This social media promotion is followed by scamsters approaching the property buyers and showing them the physical vouchers of the project and taking advance payment to book the property.
“Fraudulent companies advertise only on social media, instead of reputed newspapers or news channels. People should neither make online payments nor cash to such companies before checking with RERA about such projects,” said an official from the authority.
Projects registered: 8,762
Agents registered: 3,748
Total complaints: 2,074
Orders issued: 1,191
