On Sunday (December 25), hundreds of residents of Greater Noida housing societies turned up with posters to protest delays in getting their homes registered.
The residents said the issue has been dragging on for the past six or seven years, and they will continue their protests every Sunday and go all the way to Lucknow if necessary. According to them, about 50,000 residents across the city are suffering from issues related to registry.
In Noida, property sales take the form of long-term leases via allotment to builders. Sales to residents will therefore involve a sub-lease. However, as many builders currently have large outstanding dues to the Noida and Greater Noida authorities, their registry cannot go ahead. Because of this, protesters have said that they have essentially been caught between the Greater Noida Authority and the builders for no fault of their own.
Residents speaking to The Indian Express have said that these are the main problems that they are facing:
Transferring bank loans and interest rates: In the absence of registration, residents say they are unable to shift loans from higher-interest private banks to lower-interest state-owned banks. Further, residents have also claimed that banks charge higher interest rates if they are unable to produce documents showing that the property has been registered.
Insurance: Residents say they have been unable to get their properties insured with their homes not registered, leaving them high and dry if any disaster strikes.
Sale of property: Without registering their properties, residents say that it is not possible for them to sell, should they wish to do so.
On November 8, the Supreme Court revoked an order that had set the interest rate for builder liabilities at 8 per cent, as opposed to the rates which were levied in the respective agreements. After the revocation of this order, the Noida and Greater Noida authorities said it would help them recover a sum Rs 5,860 crore in the Noida Authority and Rs 3,838 crore in the Greater Noida Authority, as interest would now be levied between 15 and 23 percent.
However, builders say that a full repayment at this rate may severely damage the already teetering real estate market in Noida and Greater Noida.
Meanwhile, the Confederation of Real Estate Developers Associations of India (CREDAI) have requested the Authorities to delay payment on these for at least three months and set up a road map to revitalise the real estate sector. They said that the fact that registries were stuck due to this would impact homebuyers, and potentially lead to insolvency proceedings against multiple developers who would be unable to pay up, after which the Authorities would in any case not be able to recover their dues.
Meanwhile, senior officials at the Greater Noida Authority have said that a potential rescheduling of the payment will be discussed at the next Board Meeting, on December 28. A review petition at the Supreme Court filed by CREDAI is also set to be heard on January 19.
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Arnav ChandrasekharArnav is a trainee reporter with The Indian Express, New Delhi. He cov… read more
