“No, no… it’s a soft launch.”
“What launch?”
“Soft launch, …you are a former banker and now a financial adviser, you don’t know what soft launch is?”
“Let me come over to your office and discuss.”
My friend was trying to sell lifestyle villas overlooking the Brahmaputra. They have recently tied up with a real estate company from Kolkata and have accrued more than 100 acres of land located at a 15-minute drive from the railway station. In the first phase, they are taking bookings for 130 independent villas, all duplex and in the river front. I saw the miniature model and was impressed. And when I went through their brochure, I couldn’t believe that I was in Guwahati. I also thanked myself for not bringing my wife with me.
“Are you trying to convert Guwahati into Dubai?” I asked my friend.
“Ha-ha, we are trying.”
I was offered a special price, because it is a soft launch. He also dropped me the names of who’s who from Guwahati, who have booked the villas and when I was talking to him, his phone kept on ringing. Everyone wants a pie of Guwahati’s latest and most prestigious address. And who will not? The project has villas, apartments, schools, a hospital, shopping complex, banks, wellness centre, etc. You name it and they have it. I felt as if I have reached my Shangrila. But I still couldn’t understand the soft launch.
Later, I was explained that before the project is made known to the public, it is offered to very close friends and family. The innermost circle, the power players. I felt like a superhero. I was offered a villa along with 130 others. But I still couldn’t understand the soft launch.
Like any Bollywood blockbluster getting over, it also did. I never saw the project nor heard any talk about it. I don’t know who are the superheroes who have invested in it, looking only at a brochure and an empty plot of land. This summer, when I was chatting with my sister, who is a Supreme Court lawyer, I was told about the length of the problem.
We, in North-East, are also aware of the problem. The skirmish between the builder and the buyer, not to forget the landowner. But this kind of relationship is not healthy for anyone, be it the builder or flat buyers. Ultimately, a home is the biggest asset or investment for any Indian middle class family. To safeguard home buyers and to promote much needed transparency, a new bill was passed in Delhi. Let’s check what this Real Estate Regulation and Development Bill, 2015 holds for a home buyer.
• First, the bill safeguards the timely completion of a project and also its delivery. For any violation, strict punishment will be imposed to the promoter, which might include hefty fines, apart from a jail term.
• The bill also defines the carpet area as net usable area of an apartment. Therefore, from now on, a flat buyer will be charged for only the carpet area of his apartment. This will give a much needed respite to the home buyers, as developers quote a super build-up area and buyers end up paying at least 20 to 30 per cent more.
• The highlight of the bill is that a promoter may face three years of jail term if violations are made. Real estate agents may also face jail terms. Any misleading advertisement from the promoter may end in imposing a fine of ten per cent of the project cost. Repeat offenders will be jailed.
• No project can be sold without obtaining all the clearances needed. Hence, the idea of pre-launch or soft launch is redundant now. This will effectively curb any fund raise before putting any brick on the ground.
• Seventy per cent of the home buyers’ payment money is to be deposited in a separate bank account and has to be use for that particular project. This will prevent transferring of funds from one project to another by the promoter.
• All projects will be needed to be registered with the regulatory authority giving all relevant details, including floor plans and land status, which will be uploaded in the website of the regulatory authority for all to view.
• The developer will be liable for any structural defect that might appear in the structure for the initial five years and they can’t alter any design without the consent of two-thirds of the buyers.
(reach the writer @ 99541-39393)
