Image Credits: DNA

Usually, the builder community refrains from any protest against the government. However, on October 13, Maharashtra Chamber of Housing Industry (MCHI) and its associate organisations held a peaceful march to show their disapproval & express solidarity on the recent suicide of Thane-based developer Suraj Parmar.

Most of the construction sites and offices belonging to developers were closed on Tuesday. Even architects and real estate agents participated in this protest.

Parmar, the President of MCHI-Thane  was purportedly fed up of the corruption in the system & the resultant delays in project completions. Apparently, he had named the elected representatives & the architects responsible for the suicide but fearing troubles for his Family later, they were removed.

tips for Buying resale property.

There are multiple reasons that push you into buying resale property, and the foremost being the urge to own a home of your own. Other than this evident reason, when you hear a lot of new residential and commercial projects entering the market on a regular basis and flying off the shelves even before they are ready, the next best option you have at owning your own property is by buying resale.

Purchasing a property is always a time consuming task and if you are looking for accommodation on an immediate basis, buying resale is the best option on your hand. Unlike with a new property, the paper work in this case is much faster which mainly involves the transfer of ownership.

Although buying a resale property is a lot more hassle-free than buying a new one, yet there are various legal formalities that you should be looking into. Here we have listed a few tips to help you shortlist a resale property.

Tip 1: Use market expertise

You can approach reputed real estate agencies and individual brokers in the market when planning to buy property in resale. These experts have years of experience in the field. They will fetch the best and verified resale properties for you. Do not get misled by anyone or by your own instincts. Rest assured, the experts will show you only those properties that are free from any issue. Moreover, you will also get appropriate guidance and assistance through all the registration and payment procedures.

Tip 2: Document scrutiny

So, if you have shortlisted a few properties and settled upon your top choices, it is time to go through all related legal documents. An important step because you wouldn’t want any legal hassles later on. Carefully examine whether the purchase and ownership transfer papers are in order. Checking the registration and tax documents is of utmost importance.

Tip 3: Property valuation

Rather than blindly believing the resale price quoted by the owner of the property or the broker, Check it for you. There are multiple sources like the internet. Secondly, speak to other real estate agents in the area.

Once you have satisfactory answers to all your queries and the legal formalities are in line, go ahead and make that property your own.

Property owners, especially those trading in real estate market, continually buy new property and sell them a couple of years down the line. Most flats, although having the tag of “resale” are in extremely good condition. In case you too are looking out for resale houses for yourself, visit us at shopsandhomes.com and find great deals on such properties.

E-Registration for Realty Market

In the real estate market of developing countries land dispute is one of the most common disagreement and the cases can range from illegal land sales to grabbing the land of relatives and from fake purchase to land purchase at zero price. In India the real estate market has been plagued by many of these kinds of issues and due to that in present the government is planning to initiate the e-registration with an aim to streamline the registrations of immovable properties, which will be helpful to bring the transparency in the Indian real estate market. In present, there are many nations which are using the same platform for extremely progressive transparency in the real estate market.

E-registration is simple process which is able to provide evidence of title with an aim to facilitate the transactions to prevent the unlawful disposal of land. It is expected that the system of online registration will be effective and it will be able to solve various underlying problems, apart from that according to real estate experts this system will be able to fill the loopholes of the traditional land registration process, which is fully based on the Land Registration Act of 1925 and that rarely involves the Powers of Attorney, transfer of property under rent and sale or mortgage of land. However; the Land Registration Act of 2002 has introduced the new system according to which they will use the verified electronic signatures for registering and transferring the immovable property online.

If you are getting the land which has been passed from the generations or it has been seen multiple owners in particular time period, so there is need to maintain a hierarchy of land which will available online so that potential buyer or tenants can ascertain the exact rental or value on that land according to the current market conditions. But it’s not an easy to implement this system because government needs to have the complete access over the document verification as well as full disclosure of property details such as; number of rooms, foundation details, gross carpet area, wiring blueprints and more. It is expected that e- registrations will provide a much-needed level of transparency in property dealing and no one will be able to hide anything from future buyers and investors.

Role of real estate agents:

E- Registrations will negate the need for real estate agent or not? It’s very fair question, because the details of all properties will be available online and there are chances that the information mentioned on the website will not be enough for the large investments. The main question is that whether specific property details are able to make good investment decision in regard to other options or not.

Benefits of E- Registrations:

1. The details of property will be available online and due to that they can be accessed online at any time.
2. There will be more transparency in the registration process and there will be no need of bribes to official.

• Software will calculate the stamp duty on the basis of few factors such as; stored data and more.

1. Buyer will be able to pay the stamp duty online.
2. There will be less property disputes in sensitive market.

Procedure of E- Registrations:

As we all know that property available in urban and rural areas comes under the jurisdiction of the same government and it managed by the Tehsil, which means e-registrations for both property (housing or commercial rental) will be similar. However; the process can be different for vacant or occupied property because for vacant land, valuation is based on the current market price, whereas; the property valuation for occupied land such as; flats, cottages, shops and more can be done on the basis of gross investment. The procedure to do the e-Registration is very simple and easy because you can download the form and application of land registration online or you can also obtain it offline from the concerned state authority’s office in your state. After the verification of property details and its related documents the concerned person will be able to register the land in few days and soon after that owner will be able to establish full-accredit ownership of the property.

Central Advisory Council

Recently, the central government of India has made a crucial amendment in the CAC (Central Advisory Council) and according to new amendment real estate agents will be the part of Central Advisory Council, which is involve in helping the government to understand the issues related to the Indian real estate sector.

This new amendment has made the property brokers or real estate agents, a key stakeholder with homebuyers and builders in the real estate industry. However; in a separate development government is pertaining the same bill in the Rajya Sabha Select Committee, with an aim to add the functions of the REAA (Real Estate Regulatory Authority), which will be formed under the new proposed Bill and it will also include the protection of interest of allottees, promoters and agents. It is proposed to form a council under the aegis of the amended in the Real Estate Bill, whereas; the Minister of Housing & Urban Poverty Alleviation will be act as the ex-official chairman of the same body. The new group will provide active advice to the central government on different facts such as; protection of consumer interest, implementation of the Act,, recommend policy and foster development as well as growth in the real estate sector.

However; officials are expecting that soon new council will come in existence and it will act as the main mover in for starting the debates on critical facts and figures of the Indian real estate industry. According to the statement of the Sanjay Bhargava, Founder of realty advisory company Bombay Homes, “After including the real estate agents, central government will get the better understanding on many of the issues which are related to the satisfaction and transactions in the real estate sector because agents are the persons who directly interact with customers in comparison of real estate builders or any other official authority”. Apart from that real estate agents are happy with new amendment because now onwards they can highlight the key issues on which government can work. However; many different broker bodies are suggesting to set-up the registration format and minimum criteria for property brokers where they need to have minimum educational qualification, if they want to raise their voice and concern for the real estate sector.

However; the Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Bill, 2013 is seeking to establish the RERAs (Real Estate Regulatory Authorities), at the state level so that every state can regulate the development of real estate sector in country. The main aim of RERAs is to make sure that there is consumer protection and standardization in the business practice of real estate sector of the country.

Home selling tips

These days many real estate investors are looking for buyers to leverage their investments through flat sales. Here are some tips which will help you to get the maximum price of flat, when you sale them in buyer’s market;

Property Guide:

In present, our country is witnessing huge growth in buyers market and it’s just because of slow economy in which buyers are trying to leverage their real estate investments. According to estimates of real estate experts, it can take many months for brokers to offload the current inventory. Normally, any property takes more than two months to crack sale and in that scenario if home owner want to sale his property in very less time, so sellers can find it difficult to get the good price for property. But as home seller you should not be disappointed because still there are some tricks through which you can get good deal for your property. Here are few important suggestions in an order to make a deal at good price;

1. Take a help from real estate agent:

Buyers market and sellers market is totally different and its real estate agents who can help you perfectly in this situation.  Help from real estate agents will be very useful because they are the person in market who constantly receives inquiries about residential and commercial properties. Apart from that you can also list your property on real estate portals because in present these real estate portals are accessible from large number of audience. While listing your property on real estate portals make sure that you are adding good quality images of your property from different angles because it will allow buyer to sneak peek into the property. If you are not good in clicking images than you can also hire a professional to click the photos and this property pictures will be good enough to flatter the buyers. It’s strongly recommended to not touch the images because it can provide false impression of your property. However; real estate agent will change some fee on their service.

2. Quote your home at right price:

It’s very important to quote your property at right price as per latest market trends because to earn more profit if you will set your home price higher than the market trends so there are chances that you will find it difficult to get the buyer in stipulated time. It’s recommended to consult with your real estate agents and select correct price with some elasticity, so that buyer can also negotiate till some extent. If you want to sale your property soon, so you can fix your property price little lower than the properties of your neighborhood.

3. Be ready for negotiations:

In the country like; India, every buyer prefer to leverage the situation and negotiate on the price no matter they are buying properties in lakhs or electricity gadget in thousands rupees. Never hesitate to negotiate with prospective buyer, who is ready to offer little low prices than your demand. If there are any taxes due on the property, so you should discount the price and tell the buyer that you will clear these dues before settling a deal.

4. Try to be flexible:

Whenever buyer asked you to show your home, so try to offer them visit because most of the time during weekends and daytime buyers love to visit the property and on that time you should be there, so that you can represent your property in good manner.

5. Fix –up issues:

If you have any issue at property location or in building so try to fix that issue because if you will keep your property in tip-top condition so it will impress your prospective buyer. If you are sure that you are going to sale your property, so you can get the fresh coat of paint at your home and it will enhance the valuation of property.

On Wednesday, cabinet defers on the approval of Real Estate (Regulation & Development) Bill, which is committed to ensure consumer protection and to establish regulatory bodies at Centre and states for transparent and ethical business practices in country’s real estate sector. As per sources, the housing ministry has been asked to review the real estate bill explore that how it can be more consumer-friendly and to have better provisions for promotion of affordable housing.

Country’s Real Estate Sector

In review low cost housing and roof have been identified as a focus area by central government and it has promised the housing for all by 2022. Low-cost housing and roof to all have been identified as a focus area by the Narendra Modi government and it has promised shelter to all by 2022. TOI has learnt that there was a suggestion and strong argument during the Cabinet meeting that the provisions relating to Centre-state issues need to be made clearer in the bill. In current session of Parliament, central government has included the bill as one of the legislations for passage.

Recommendations in Real Estate (Regulation & Development) Bill:

The real estate bill was introduced in the Rajya Sabha in August 2014 and referred to the parliamentary standing committee for modifications and later committee had made several recommendations particularly in favor of consumers and greater check on unscrupulous developers, the housing ministry has rejected most of them. According to committee there are also several provisions in the revised bill with a single aim to protect the consumer’s interest. This has reference to recent cases in Noida where a developer had changed plans and built towers to increase economic viability without taking buyers into confidence. The real estate bill also included that the condition prohibits a developer to change the plan in a project unless 2/3rd of the allottees have concurred for such change.

As per new recommendations, now it will include checking the antecedents of project promoters before their registration is done and ensure that all real estate developers who have defaulted in two earlier cases be blacklisted. But later housing ministry has ministry rejected this by arguing that this a provision will work as a deterrent for the sector. The panel of committee had also recommended all real estate agents involved in sale of secondary market projects also need to be regulated through real estate bill. But this was not accepted. Similarly, the panel also suggested that promoters be made to enclose names of contractors, architects and structural engineers, which were also turned down.

Earlier housing ministry have allowed to builder to divert up to 50% of buyers’ investment in case of special projects to other real estate projects which are under criticism. But the original real estate bill had mandated the developer to put more than 70 per cent of the buyers’ investment to an escrow account to be used only for construction of that project.

To protect homebuyers from unscrupulous property agents, the ministry of housing is planning to make it compulsory for real estate brokers to get registered with the proposed real estate regulatory authority (RERA). It also plans to expand the purview of RERA to cover commercial as well as residential real estate.

Real estate agents will now have to get registered with the proposed real estate regulatory authority and get a licence and get it renewed periodically before they set up shop. If the broker were to commit a fraud, the licence can be cancelled – as is done in Dubai and Singapore. It also means the end of the fly-by-night property agents.

Honey Katyal, CEO, Investors Clinic says that it is a welcome move as brokers will be made more accountable for property deals by getting a service tax registration code and a licence from the government and paying service tax to the authority. Now they get just a dealer code from the developer. The real estate market is also going to get more organised.

“The fact that a licence can be cancelled if the broker were to indulge in fraudulent activities will instill fear in the minds of the broker community,” he says.

S K Pal, an advocate, says that since brokers play the most important role in the supply chain – they are the first point of contact before the buyer finalises a property deal – they ought to be made accountable.

In most cases, when problems arise with a project, the broker simply washes his hands off the entire deal. That’s primarily because he has received his commission and the matter is closed.

If brokers are regularised and their licences renewed from time to time, they will be brought under the tax net and will also have to pay licence fee to the government which means revenue for the latter, Pal adds.

The move will help regulate black money, increase revenue collection, and strengthen the system of brokerage. Pal cites an example of a doctor who booked a property worth `80 lakh in the NCR. The broker he had invested with had promised him a free ticket to Dubai but the trip never materialised because the broker did not get his commission from the builder. The matter went to court.

“A qualification bracket can also be brought in. The message of the government is clear – strengthen the house buying process by bolstering the confidence of the investor. Regulating them is essential because the broker is always in a better position for collective bargaining with the builder as he does block bookings for them,” says Pal.

In the long run, the role of brokers can be enlarged to that of agents who can sell Real Estate Investment Trust (REITs) in the future; they can also operate seamlessly anywhere in the country. What this means is that the marketing cost of builders can come down drastically.

Will bringing brokers under the ambit of RERA create another pile of files on property disputes? This argument does not hold water as initially files may pile up but in the long run, as the market gets regulated, agents who are found to have indulged in fraudulent practices, will be ejected from the system and cases of fraud will come down drastically.