Besieged by mounting rents and an escalating cost of living, homebuyers finally took their woes to UP Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav in a letter that recounted how delayed possession had wrecked their best-laid plans.
The letter, compiled by Alok Kumar, president of Federation of Apartment Owners Association (FedAOA), was submitted to Yadav recently.
“It is a plea on behalf of all the homebuyers in the NCR,” Kumar told City Spidey. Due to delayed possession, the letter explained, homeowners were not just having to pay hefty EMIs but also rents for their current accommodations. This was putting a huge financial burden on them, derailing their plans, including their children’s education. The letter also alleged how builders resorted to measures such as cutting off water and electricity supply when buyers raised a stink over the dismal conditions in their societies.
These were the two main points the letter underlined:
Delayed completion of housing projects:
Seventy-eight per cent of the 400 housing projects in the NCR under the jurisdiction of Ghaziabad, Noida and Greater Noida Authority are facing delays. Real estate developers are diverting sale proceeds from projects to buying new plots and creating a land bank for future initiatives. As such, since the projects are not getting completed, homebuyers are not being able to move in. Currently, almost all builders in Noida and Greater Noida have plots allotted to them but do not have the financial resources to complete the housing projects already under construction. The civic authorities have not yet taken significant action to control the builders.
Handover without completion certificates:
Faced with protests, a few builders have handed over flats in under-construction buildings without obtaining the necessary completion certificates from the authorities. This jeopardises and endangers the lives of those who live in these apartments. This contradicts Section 4(5) of the Uttar Pradesh Apartment Act, 2010. Some builders have even obtained completion certificates without following the norms under the UP Apartment Act. After letting residents move into unsanctioned flats in a project, they cite humane reasons for legalising the plots.
