Ozone Park Sector - 86

[Manish10574]

I have added few comments in the letter in bold and underlined.

[Manish10574]

I found the following article very interesting. It helps us understand what we should expect from the builder before and after possession. Legal help if required




When a New Delhi-based homebuyer approached a consumer court to file a case against the developer who did not deliver the project on the promised date, she did not know that consumer courts do admit cases involving possession of property or any kind of delay in construction. These cases are taken up by the civil courts. In the above mentioned example, the customer has already paid 95% of the total cost of the property, but is still to get possession. The matter is sub judice.

Like our friend from New Delhi, many homebuyers do not know that such cases do not come under the purview of consumer courts. However, delay in construction is not the only problem that homebuyers face. There are other cases, such as deficiency in services at various points even after possession of flat, where you can seek help of consumer courts. Here's a list of some such problems in which you can take the developer to the consumer court.

Construction defects and maintenance
There could be variations, from what you were promised, in the final design of the apartment. If you do not get the same design or outlay as mentioned in the advertisements or shown in the sample flat, it is a deficiency in services on the developer's part.

Even poor construction quality can be the basis of a consumer complaint where you can drag the developer to a consumer court. "For the first year after possession, the builder is liable to take care of damages such as leaks in water pipes or cracks in the walls. If he refuses to do so, you can lodge a complain with the consumer court," says Rajesh Goyal, managing director, RG Group, a New Delhi-based real estate firm.


Also, it is the developer's responsibility to maintain parks, parking spaces, clubs and other such amenities for the first three-five years. However, in case he is not doing the same, you can ask for a refund of the amount that you have already paid at the time of buying the property. If he acts stubborn, you can drag the developer to the consumer court.

Escalation clause
The price of the flat can go up, though marginally, during the course of construction. This can happen any time during the construction. If you look at the agreement paper signed with the developer, you will find a rise-and-fall or alteration clause which allows the developer to take a unilateral decision on price change during the course of construction. Though price changes depend on various factors such as demand and supply in the housing sector, home loan rates or prices of raw materials, the clause doesn't mention the range of price rise. "There is nothing much that you can do about the change if you have signed the builder-buyer agreement," says Snehdeep Agarwal, director, Bhartiya Group, a real estate firm with projects in Bangalore. However, if the developer is not able to justify the reason for a hike in price, you can seek help.

Misuse of common areas
The developer cannot sell the open spaces within the premise for setting shops and offices. Selling of common spaces of the complex may take away the extra space that you have paid for. It has been observed in the past that developers sell common spaces without the permission of the residents welfare association. Even setting up telecommunication towers on the roof of buildings need permission of the residents in writing.

Delay compensation
Although the property possession cases are taken up by civil courts, you can approach the consumer court if the developer fails to pay you the delay compensation charges in such cases. Most builder-buyer agreements have a delay-compensation clause. According to this clause, an amount at the rate of, say, Rs5-7 per sq. ft has to be paid to the homebuyer in case the property is not delivered on scheduled date.

Case hearing
The hearing in consumer courts is taken on a fast-track basis. You may get a judgement in a single day if all the necessary documents are in place. If the court finds the developer guilty, it orders a compensation amount that he needs to pay to you. The Consumer Protection Act, 1986, provides a three-tier system of redressal agency--first, at the district level known as the district forum; second, at the state level known as the state commission; and third, at the national level known as the national commission. These forums deal in matters of real estate as well as consumer goods.

"A consumer can file complaint in the district forum of the district concerned where the value of goods, services and compensations, if any, is up to Rs20 lakh. He can approach the state commission for cases involving sums of money between Rs20 lakh and Rs1 crore, and the national commission for more than Rs1 crore," says Sunder Khatri, a Delhi-based lawyer practising in the Supreme Court.

There is provision for appeals against orders of a particular forum by the aggrieved party before the next higher forum/commission and even from the findings of the national commission before the Supreme Court.

How to go about it
Approaching a consumer court is fairly simple. In fact you do not even need a lawyer for filing a case in a consumer court. You can write your problems in a piece of paper and send it to the court through post. In your note, you need to mention the problem and the name of the person who is responsible for the deficiency in service. Says Khatri, "While writing, you should address the particular court and mention the subject in one line at the start of your application. Following this you should mention all the facts of your complaints under section 12 of the Consumer Protection Act."

Most importantly, it is must to mention the compensation amount in terms of money that you want as refund from the developer. However, you need to justify the amount with proper documents, adds Khatri. If you name the developer, the court will summon the same.

The developer may appoint a representative to appear in the court on his behalf.

If your case is an old one, you can ask for an increased amount of compensation based on the fact that property rates have also increased over the period.

However, before you approach the consumer courts, discuss the issue with the developer. In most cases, developers would want to avoid legal battle and would want to solve the matter outside the court.

You can approach such forums if the developer is giving substandard services or if there are defects in construction

[15.rajat]

Point noted Manish

Yes, they plan to give possession for some of the towers in Aug 2011. As per agreement, they can give only once they get a completion certificate from DTCP. I assume this holds true for the entire project and not just individual towers.

It is for the same reason that I wanted to speak to people from T1/T6/T11.

Another important thing:- Now that most of us have to pay only the last installment during the possession, don't get surprised if the ask amount is some 200% of what you expect.

Reasons:
1. Increase in super sale-able area !!!
2. Increase in some taxes by government
3. Increase in the common area.
4. etc, etc.

There have been instances where people supposed to pay only 80,000/- have got demands of about 2.4lacs due to above reasons.

[Manish10574]

I would like people to comment that what is wrong mentioned in this article and what is right.

[Manish10574]

Hi Everyone

we are supposed to submit our complaints about Builders to Dheeraj for tomorrow's meeting with HUDA Officer.

I have formed a list of complaints. I would like if you people can add your complaints to this list.

1. The greatest concern is delay in delivery of the flats. Shiv sai had promised the delivery of the flats by December 2009. it is already delayed by 15 months and delivery is not expected for another two years.
2. Quality of the construction is very bad. Wiring is not done properly and its going to be difficult to manage wiring in case any modifications are required. they have used plastic pipes instead of steel pipes for wiring.
3. The size/usable area of the apartments (unit A, B or C) is not same as one shown in sample apartment.
4. The finishing of the apartments is not good. cement is failling off the walls.
5. The steel grill in the balconies is a big problem. Balconies were not shown in sample apartments and ShivSai cannot expect us to have balconies with hollow steel pipes railings and height of ralling is very small, making it very dangerous.
6. The size of lifts is too small, and there is no service lift. we can not take big items like sofas or beds to top floors in this kind of lift.
7. The windows are wooden and are completely exposed. During rains the wood would get damage and would require replacement.
8. The green area - It is expected that shiv sai is just going to do a formality by planting some trees. We expect the project to be as good as it was shown in shiv sai brouchers.
9. shiv sai is planning to handover flats to owners even before completing the full project. it seems other features of the project will not be ready when they deliver flats in august 2011.
10. They do not have any plans to take completion certificate from HUDA ( Which is expected to check the safety and standards of the building) before handing over possession to owners.

I think we should put all our complaints and do not hesitate from pointing problems with our builders.

regards,

Manish

[15.rajat]

What concerns me is that I do not see good involvement from the Ozone Park members in this forum.

[15.rajat]

Hi Manish,

I think you have covered most of the points. Most important concern is possession of the apartments, development of sectors by HUDA and checking on the builder for quality of construction and promises that were made during the purchase.

Friends,

We all have been talking about sending some proper communication to Shiv Sai regarding our concerns. I had posted a draft letter for everyones comments but I got response only from Mr. Manish. I am going to post revised version of the draft in a new topic. I request all to go through the same and share your comments ASAP.


Regards
Rajat

[kundal]

Hi Rajat,
Thank you for posting the update on yesterday's protest. It was pity that we were just members from some 400++ prospective owners at Ozone who represented on the much required protest day.

Needless to say, Manish , you have done a great job in raising the concerns remotely even if you are away from the town for so long. You have covered most of the important issues and we will have some purpose met even if half of them are listened by the Shiv Sai Board.

However, we must regroup as a strong team to ask for our right. We all have spent our life long savings and next 20 years commitment with banks etc to build a home of our dream and if there is no corrective measures taken at this stage, the dream home will remain a far away dream forever.

The draft letter to the Shiv Sai is fine. One of the blunder which they also have done is putting the electrical console right in front of the shower area in the bathroom attached to master bed room. A clear lack of intelligence as usual.

How about meeting all of us by this Saturday at 10 am on the site itself and we will all do a joint inspection and figure out the gaps and then write the letter?

The letter to the DC for tomorrow's meeting looks fine. Lets go ahead with this.

More soon.

Kundal

[kundal]

Some snapshots of the wall plasters.

[Manish10574]

Hi Rajat,

Letter seems to be fine except that you have not raised concerns regarding completion certificate.

anyways letter is alright now we need to plan further. I am planning to be there in delhi by the march last week or april first week. can we plan to meet shiv sai during that time. we can discuss exact dates later on.

We also need to ask all the ozone members to give their consent explicitly on this forum or through email to submit this on their behalf to shiv sai. This will put extra pressure on shiv sai when they know that around 50 people of ozone park have raised these concerns. we need to unite everyone and it will definately give us upper hand. we are powerfull when we are united. if we do not unite we can not achieve anything.

We also need to keep these discussions public so that people know that we are working towards making this place liveable. and they also need to contribute in one way or the other. We are powerful if we are united and we can force shiv sai to deliver what they promised at the time of selling flats. and to unite everyone we need one leader who unites them without worrying about the end result. I think only Kundal or Rajat can do this job.

We all are future neighbors and in any case we have to unite. if not now then later on and its better that we unite now and work towards the betterment of the society. we need to pass this message to every ozone member.

If you want me to do something then please do let me know

regards,

Manish

[dheerajjain]

Thanks a lot, everyone from Shiv Sai Group.

Kundal, Rajat can you come along with us tomorrow (4th Mar) for meeting officials. Please contact at dheeraj.jain@myfaridabad.in

[15.rajat]

Dheeraj,

What time is this meeting ?

Rgds

[Amitkhurana]

The points already mentioned cover most of the discrepancies in Ozone park apartments.

I have visited Ozone park site last week & did notice couple of other things that might be area of concern. I have submitted complaint letter to Ozone park administration:

1) The door to each of three bedrooms & Drawing/dining room opens inward/inside the respective room which reduces the space of each room by at least 3 feet (i.e. breadth of door). We need each door to be fixed in a way that it should open outside.
2) The Windows of Dining room adjacent to kitchen has only glass and it does not have any rod which is a major safety concern. If we open glass window, we are directly exposed to outside which is very dangerous for children since there is no balcony towards that side of room.

Regards,
Amit

[15.rajat]

Amit,

I hope you are joining the meeting at Shiv Sai office today.

rgds

[ram1977sg]

i also bought a flat in shiv sai,ozone park sec 86.please include my name in society list & let me know for any participation.

thanx

RAMA SHANKAR