Advocateselvakumar

property lawyers in Bangalore

Tuesday, 12 April 2016

NATIONAL POLICY FOR RURAL HABITAT

Society is responsible for ensuring basic human rights and equal opportunity for growth to all its citizens. Policies are made for the nation to lead to conditions that are conducive to the realization of rights and fair access to opportunities for everyone. Every citizen has a housing need which generally should have all the basic amenities such as water, sanitation and energy. It should give privacy, safety and dignity which are the rights of every human being in society today. A housing and habitat policy for rural India is needed that is based on these priorities and potential since the matters relating to habitat for rural India could be dealt with in an adequate and realistic manner. As rural habitat development is intrinsically linked to the development of the overall economy, development of rural habitat should be viewed from the standpoint of alleviating rural poverty.

Rural India is characterized by certain priorities of a special nature. What rural India needs is the reinforce-ment of positive movements and the investments of the people to be har-nessed towards a process of integrated rural growth. That is why we must have a National Rural Habitat Policy to encourage conditions that will help in the creation of sustainable shelter and means of livelihood for rural India. In addition educational, health and child care facilities, opportunities to generate an income are necessary for a productive society to grow and thrive and all this forms part and parcel of human habitat.

Over the decades the National Habitat Policy has emphasized and endeavoured to achieve the objective of `adequate shelter for all.' According to national priorities and variation in large-scale social and economic factors this policy has often been revised. Although the last National Habitat Policy was fairly comprehensive it could not accomplish the aim of focusing on the needs of rural areas and has failed to give the desired direction. Urban habitat matters are being tackled by the new `Draft National Urban Housing and Habitat Policy.

A step in the right direction was taken through the Bharat Nirman Program and also through the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA). To inform the development of the National Rural Housing and Habitat Policy basin-south Asia Regional Knowledge Platform (basin- SA) has taken the initiative to combine concepts, opinions and successful systems of methods of various stake-holders. Research and documentation undertaken by the Building and Social Housing Foundation, UK and Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation triggered off the dialogue. An understanding of rural conditions, abilities, needs and potential for large scale development of habitat and livelihoods in rural areas was reached through intensive research and consulta-tions with practitioners and policy makers all over the country.

As a result of this process a "Framework for a Rural Habitat Policy for India" has been developed and basin-SA has been motivated to start a countrywide process of mobilizing various stakeholders to develop a draft of the Rural Habitat Policy. The Akhil Bhartiya Samaj Sewa Sansthan helped by basin-SA organized a meeting on 23'd February 2006 in New Delhi. NGOs, bankers and government officials were brought together through this meeting to talk about, debate and suggest clauses for the policy document. In collaboration with basin-SA, the Architecture & Development Organisation has decided to take up the task of organizing the State level Consultation for drafting the Rural Habitat Policy for Tamil Nadu & Pondicherry under the RDC program. It will do this together with Centre for Education & Documentation, Institute for Social Education & Development and other institutions.

It is heartening to note that all the States in the country are now getting as opportunity to contribute to the process of policy development. Each Stab Level Consultation will give its inps and this process, it is hoped, would hel in the finalization 'Final Draft of th Rural Habitat Policy for India.'.

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Advocate S Selvakumar

Bangalore Advocate

concession on affordable housing

Monday, 11 April 2016

QUERRIES ON PROPERTY MATTERS

QUARRIES ON PROPERTY MATTERS

Certain hidden facts like pending cases, prior agreements, government notifications of the property cannot be traced out easily by verification of the documents. How can these hidden factors be uncovered, and what should a purchaser do to protect himself against these hidden factors?

Rajan Kalyan, JP Nagar, Bangalore

Generally seller hands over the copies of the property documents to the purchaser to examine the title. Such documents contain only title documents, which may be cross-checked in the sub registrar’s Office. But they do not disclose any pending litigations, prior agreements which are not registered and government notifications. As such, the Purchaser should be very cautious and make arrangements for thorough search of records at the concerned jurisdictional Courts to rule out the possibility of any pending cases and also in offices of Urban Development Authorities such as : BDA, BMRDA, KIADB, KHB, High way and other planning authorities etc., to rule out the acquisition notifications, if any.

Further, it would be difficult to verify any existing prior agreements or arrangements which are not registered. As such, proper enquiries with owner of the property, and also with neighbours may be helpful. It would always be better to register the sale agreement and get the property registered at the earliest. Above all, Paper publication of the intention of the Purchaser to buy particular property would help the purchaser to a certain extent.

What is Paper publication? How does it benefit the purchaser

Shenoy, Rajajinagar, Bangalore

Though the Paper Publication may not be a statutory requirement, yet the idea of getting a notice published in the widely circulated newspaper in the locality, is to elicit the information from the general public that a bona fide purchaser is intending to purchase the property from its owner. Besides this, the paper notification also invites objections from various interested persons with documentary evidence in support of their claim within the specific period.

Even after issuance of such paper notification, a person said to have his claim to the property does not lose his rights just because he could not disclose his rights in response to such paper notification within the given time.

I am not able to understand the difference between Khatha Certificate and Khatha extract. Would you please enlighten me on this ? Could you also brief me about the importance of Encumbrance Certificate ?

Veeresh, Uttarahalli

Khatha is a revenue record maintained by the municipal authorities in respect of a property standing in the name of a particular person for purposes of assessment and collection of property tax. As it is a secondary document in the absence of primary documents like Sale Deed, Gift Deed, Partition Deed, Release Deed, Will, Grant etc., however it does not establish the title in its totality.

Khatha Certificate is a Certificate issued by the Municipal authority Office confirming that the Khatha of a particular property stands in the name of a particular person/s.

Khatha Extract is an Extract of the tax assessment register maintained at Municipal Office giving complete details of the property like: Area of the site, building, property tax levied, cess and total tax payable, name of the previous and present owner of the property, etc.

Encumbrance Certificate is issued by Sub Registrar Offices for a specific period as required by the applicant. It contain the details of the property like: Sy. No. House No. boundaries, and encumbrances on such property like: Sale, Gift, transfer, mortgage, if any, which are registered at the said sub registrar’s office. However, the Encumbrance Certificate do not reflect the encumbrance transactions of deeds which are not registered.

What is the procedure for Khatha transfer and how do we know that the Khatha transfer Certificate is genuine and original

Sreenivasa Prasad, Jayanagar, Bangalore

Transfer of Khatha of property to your name is to be done by the concerned jurisdictional revenue authority under whose jurisdiction the property is situated. For this purpose, you have to apply for transfer of khatha in a duly filled Khatha Transfer application duly signed by both the Seller as well as Purchaser i.e., yourself, and enclose a copy of the registered Sale Deed, latest tax paid receipt and up to date encumbrance certificate along with the necessary fee.

Thereafter, the authorities do acknowledge receipt of the application and indicate the date by which the process will be completed; however, the entire process is to be required to be completed within 45 days. Meanwhile, the authorities may also call for certain additional information / document etc., if felt necessary for verification and confirmation. Thereafter, the Khatha of the property would be transferred into your name and an endorsement will be issued in your name to this effect. Thereafter, tax paid receipts on such property would be issued in your name, which show that the said property stands in your name.

As regards ascertaining whether the Khatha Certificate issued is genuine and original or not, the Khatha Certificate is usually issued by the concerned jurisdictional Corporation Office and as such you may directly visit such office and obtain the same to confirm its genuineness and originality.

Do the financial institutions permit the transfer of loan from one institution to other and what is the fee charged for such transfer and whether it would be better to transfer from one institution to other ?

Sadashiva murthy, Hosakote

Financial Institutions allow the transfer of loan from one institution to another even though they don’t want their existing loan accounts to be taken over by other institutions. However, such institution which allow transfer of loan account may charge foreclosure charges for such transaction in order to minimize such transfer of loan accounts. It is left to the customer as to when to transfer the loan from one institution to another taking into consideration various factors of which the major point is to look into the rate of interest besides other benefits which he would get from other institution on such transfer. After obtaining in-principle approval from the taking over institution or bank, such transfer of loan account is possible.

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Advocate Selvakumar

Senior Advocates

Property Law

Intellectual Properties

NRI Matters

Saturday, 9 April 2016

Bombay High Court dismissed builders’ plea for concession on affordable housing

Bombay High Court dismissed builders’ plea for

The Bombay High Court on Thursday disposed of a petition filed by a few developers seeking concession in rules that require all builders to construct 20 percent additional small sized apartments in their plots on all projects that are bigger than 4,000 square meters. The judges held that the government’s decision was correct.

The division bench headed by Chief Justice Mohit Shah was hearing petitions filed by DB Realty and few other developers, which said that it was not possible to provide 20 percent affordable housing in all projects and it would hinder many construction projects and so this policy should be scrapped.

It was submitted by the petitioners that restriction on the land owner’s right to develop and construct on his land is arbitrary and constitutes an unreasonable restriction on the petitioner’s right given in the Constitution of India.

The Judges, however held, we are not satisfied with arguments put before by the developers and disposed of the petitions without granting any relief to them.

The draft notice of the inclusive housing policy made it mandatory for all owners to develop plots of 30 to 50 square metres to hand over to Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority (MHADA) for economically weaker sections and low income groups.

E-Commerce giants to absorb big Real estate this year

In 2014, Jabong and Snapdeal made large office space transactions, too. They are expected to continue to do so this year. While Jabong picked up 120,000 Sq.ft. in Gurgaon, Snapdeal absorbed 115,000 Sq.ft. in Delhi last year. This year, Jabong is taking a new and larger rented office.

Though the American e-commerce major Amazon refused to discuss the specifics of its office expansion plans, it is believed to be looking at a large office space of more than one million Sq.ft. in Bengaluru this year. The Company already have campuses in Bengaluru, Chennai and Hyderabad, besides Offices in 15 Indian cities. The Amazon spokes person said that “We are growing at a fase pace and you can expect our real estate foot print to grow this year”.

Estimates suggest the total warehouse space uptake could more than be double in 2015 to 4 million square feet. Besides the likes of Amazon, Flipkart, Jabong and Snapdeal, those like UrbanLadder, PepperFry, Quikr and FabFurnish are also looking at taking up more office space as their business grow.

In Bengaluru, the absorption by e-commerce firms rose to 622,811 Sq.ft. from 453,495 Sq.ft., a year earlier.

Delhi-NCR, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Mumbai and Kolkata office space absorption by e-commerce firms grew significantly. Warehouse space take up may double to 4 million Sq.ft. in 2015. Added to this, the growth in number of employees and consumers fuelling realty boom.

DLF to sell 50% stakes in 4 projects to PE firms

REALTY major DLF plans to divest around 50 percent stake each in four new housing projects to private equity firms for over Rs.3,000 Crores.

India’s largest real estate firm expects to close some of the deals by June and would utilize the funds to improve its cash-flows that have been affected due to slow down in housing demand.http://advocateselvakumar.com/legal_topic.php?id=37

The Chief Financial Officer of DLF said that they are looking for private equity in 4 green field housing projects in Delhi-NCR and South India and also said that the discussions with few Private equity players have already started.

Property Developers and Builders

conveyancing

Property Registration

Thursday, 7 April 2016

STRUCTURAL STABILITY

All buildings have to serve two important functions. They have to carry the loads (structural requirement) and provide livable environment to the occupants to enable them to be comfortable in the use of the building (functional requirement).

The building has to carry its own weight and external occupancy loads and those caused by the environment such as those caused due to wind or earthquake. The elements that bear these loads and transmit them to the foundation are termed as “structural elements”. A good performance of the structural elements such as beams and columns is of vital importance from the safety and stability points of view. Hence, they are designed and constructed with prescribed safety margins as per requirements specified in the Bureau of Indian Standard specifications. Their failure will cause cracking, yielding of steel and even ultimate collapse of the building.

The serviceability of a building depends on the good performance of the structural and the functional elements such as flooring, doors and windows, glass panels and partition walls. The functional elements are generally not intended to carry structural loads. Their failure to perform will only affect the use of the building and not its strength or stability. Their good performance is also equally important.

In a metropolitan city such as Chennai, most apartment buildings are made of reinforced concrete frames. In this type of construction, the structural elements comprise beams and columns which carry the loads. The partition walls and infill walls in these buildings are treated as non-structural and hence are not generally designed and constructed to carry structural loads. In such buildings, for good performance it is necessary to detail the junction structural and non-structural members with proper care. The deformation of the structural members under load should not be restricted by non-structural partitions or in-fills.

For good performance of both beams and partitions, a proper sequence of construction is essential. First building the infill or partition and that casting the concrete beam on top will make the dead weight of the concrete beam load the partition which is not correct. The partition is not supposed to carry the weight of the beam. Moreover, when the additional live load comes on the floor the deflection of the beam will crack the brick infill or partition.

To avoid this problem, first the frame should be completed. This should be followed by the erection of partitions and in-fills. Care should be taken to see that a structural gap exists between the frame and the in-fill. For functional convenience this gap can be filled by inert flexible material such as thermocol or pith.

Under no circumstance a structural member should be cut or chased or damaged in any way for any purpose including for taking services like electrical conduits, concealed wiring etc. This will weaken the element and may cause its collapse leading to the collapse of the whole building. However the services may be taken through the non-structural partitions or infills.

Bearing walls

This type of construction is undertaken in semi-urban and rural areas. All the main walls carry loads and also serve to provide functional requirement. In these buildings, though the partition walls do not carry structural loads, they cannot be either built or demolished without due consideration for overall stability of the building. Some times their weight may be required to provide stability against overturning failure. The main walls invariably provide the structural stability and carry loads. Hence, they cannot be damaged or dismantled for carrying conduits for electricity, etc.

Bearing wall buildings though safe for vertical loads are weak under lateral loads. They are vulnerable for failure under out of plane bending during lateral loading. Therefore, to make the building act as one integral unit, they should be constructed with continuous plinth and continuous lintel beams. No brick pillar should be less than 600 mm in width. All openings should be reinforced on all sides. These simple precautions will ensure good performance of bearing wall buildings under lateral loads caused by wind or earthquakes.

Construction defects

In many sites the brick wall is first raised and then used as shuttering to cast the column or beam adjoining it. This will make the column or beam weak because the pores in brickwork will absorb the moisture from wet concrete making the w/c ration in the beam and column uncertain. The weakness will manifest in the cover concrete of the beam or column, leading to early onset of corrosion in the rebars.

The cracking in the walls of the buildings are many times attributed to following wrong constructions practices. It is important to pay attention to the details at the site of construction to ensure long and trouble free service of the infrastructure created. A conscious distinction should be made between the structural and non-structural items in a building and their requirements and performance. These defects when permitted during construction are difficult and costly to rectify later.

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Advocate S Selvakumar

Bangalore Advocate

property lawyers in Bangalore