Hyderabad: Private builders, helped by the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation’s town planning department, are fooling property buyers. Though occupancy certificates (OC) must only be issued after the entire project is completed, the civic body is granting permission letters when the project (mostly residential) is still on paper and without visiting the sites.
Almost 90 per cent of the builders deviate from the original plan layout that is submitted to get permission to build. They sell the properties with inadequate facilities, promising the rest after the purchase is complete. Having taken the payment, they then vanish, leaving the buyer to cope with issues that arise out of any illegality in the construction.
Anurag Basu who purchased a flat in Safilguda said, “A 2 BHK flat cost me Rs 28 lakh. The occupancy certificate for the project was displayed. However, the floor on which we purchased the flat was illegal; this was hidden from us. After we paid the entire amount we realised that the flat is unauthorised and we had to pay huge penalties to regularise it. In many places, developers get the OC for projects on disputed lands.”
GHMC officials say that deviations on a plot size of between 200 sq metres and 500 sq metres can be controlled with the mortgage rule, but they are not able to control structures that come up on plots below 200 sq metres.
According to the mortgage rule, a part of the structure is mortgaged to the corporation and released only after construction is done as per the sanctioned plan and the OC is obtained.
“Many flat owners are not aware of GHMC building regulations and are falling prey to builders,” said Dr G.V. Rao, a resident of Alwal.
