Monday, June 28, 2010

grievance and concerns of the customers of REDWOOD RESIDENCY

The,
Chairman,
Era Landmarks Ltd,
Noida.

Sir,

Subject- Questions that need urgent and sincere answers regarding the project REDWOOD RESIDENCY.



This is to bring to your attention that years and years after your initial acceptance of booking money for a residential project in Sector 82, Faridabad – We, as the customers of this project, are left with no choice but to unite and protect our rights as customers to create awareness of the issues concerning the future of our investment in your project. Hence we formed a group.
Individual queries have long been discussed by several of the customers independently but ERA LANDMARKS has never replied in writing to anyone.

The humiliation and disdain with which each customer has been treated till now, has forced us to unite for the common cause and seek redressal of our concerns. In this regard, we, as our first step to get clarity on the development of the project REDWOOD RESIDENCY, are once again sending you a summary of our queries. We would appreciate an early reply. Your procrastination, unwillingness or delay to answer our queries and concerns will force us to take necessary actions to safeguard our interest as customers of your product and services.Please understand that all the queries tabled below need an urgent answer. Do not under any circumstance ignore any one as all have their own importance and monetary value.

The queries and concerns on which we need urgent answers are:-

1) It has been Four years since we booked our apartments with you in your Redwood Residency residential project in Faridabad (Neharpar). At that time you assured that this project will be a semi-luxurious residential project, which will be developed within three years from the time of booking. Without any consent from any customer, how did you then change the location from sector-82 to sector-78? And what is the status of the semi-luxurious apartment that you are constructing, that is, what specifications/features are inbuilt to categorize them as semi-luxurious?

2) As per your marketing brochures, the advertisement in the leading national dailies and your own website of the said residential project, a very clear and indisputable area is shown as 'central green/central park' around which the whole project is conceptualized. This land – that falls in the dead centre of the said project – measures approx. 4 acres. Undeniably this was an U.S.P of this project. It has been brought to our notice that this land's title is still not in your name and that you have never made any effort/intention to procure the land from its rightful owner, thereby jeopardizing our interest/investment. As you are/ were not the rightful owner of that land why did you then use your dominant position to misrepresent facts and deceive customers by factually wrong and illusionary claims, thereby causing monetary harm to innocent and trusting customers. Your action thereby raises following concerns-
A) What is the correct status of the above said land?
B) For all purposes of getting sanctions and approvals from all regulatory bodies, did you apply with/without this land being an integral part of the project?
C) On what plan have you received your building plan approvals? Share the photocopy/duplicate of the same in your reply.
D) Was this land shown only in your marketing brochure/websites alone?
E) Do you intend to complete this project with THE CENTRAL GREEN PARK, and deliver the same as contractually agreed upon four years back?

3) As stated above, the possession was to happen within three years of the date of booking with you. Already four years have elapsed and you have not been able to construct 30% of the project. Therefore, what date of possession will you guarantee us and commit in writing? Here, we are talking about those customers who have booked in 2006 at the basic selling rate of Rs1350/sqft.

4) Late delivery/possession of apartment attracts penalty that Era Landmark is supposed to bear. We would like to know in clear words from you:
A) From which date does this penalty starts to accrue?
B) At what rate will the penalty/penal charge be calculated?
C) Kindly tell us how this rate of penalty has been arrived at. Is this rate prescribed under government/nodal agency guideline or has Era arbitrarily fixed it?
D) Does this rate of penalty confirm with the rate at which Era Landmarks charges its customers for late payment of installment?
E) The late payment of installment charged by you is calculated on the total installment amount due from the date of issuance of the demand letter. Will you then incorporate the total Basic Selling Price of the apartment for calculating the penalty amount owed to the customers?

5) When did Era landmarks get the sanction of its building plan approved? We would like to know:
A) On which date, month and year did you recieve the above said document?
B) From which date, month and year did you start the development work on the site?
C) From which date, month and year did you begin to call for allotment and installments as per construction link plan, thereon?

6) As all money collected prior to the sanctions is illegal, will Era give interest on the money it took in advance?
It is also known that, during this period, Era charged penalty on late payment of installments.
How will Era accommodate that money back to the customers and with what compensation?

7) Customers have till now paid more than sixty percent money of the apartment cost to you in your construction link plan.
A) Ground reality is that not even thirty percent work has taken place in the entire project, as your payment plan does not take into consideration the totality of the project and only leverages your balance sheet with 90% percent payment for just the structural work, we would like to know why this plan was drafted in this loop sided manner. It’s a well-known fact that finishing work(i.e. plumbing fittings, electrical fittings, paint and P.O.P, tiling work, wood work and other finishing work- both internal as well as external) constitute a major part of the total cost of construction. Why then you did not deem appropriate to distribute the cost evenly?
B) Is it not unfair trade practice to charge for, from a customer for more than the actual work done?
C) To highlight the above point, it is our duty to draw your attention to the PLC charged for park and floor (100%). Till date there is neither any park nor the floor of any tower has been completed as per your drawings. Wouldn't this amount to over-charging or charging in advance for work that will be initiated only towards the end of the construction period? Why was this not given prior thought and why is your construction link plan not drafted by taking these facts into account?
D) As this is a very unfair omission on your part, when will Era Landmark correct its mistake and compensate its customers on this account?

8) You must be aware that a lot of customers have taken home-loan to finance their apartments, in the banks contract it is/was clearly stated that within 18/24 months of disbursement of first installment towards Era or possession of apartment, whichever happens earlier, it will be deemed all money has been paid to Era(money applied as loan) and you (the customer) will be liable to pay EMI to the bank ( customer was only paying interest on the amount disbursed by the bank till now, but now he will be liable to pay the part of principal too). Who will bear this financial burden on the customer, which is happening due to your (Era's) non-performance and negligence. Clarify here, what compensation you would be paying to such customers?

9) We have come to know that you have sold and started constructing a new tower by the name of Tower-I , would you share with us the date on which you got permission to make and alter your original plan(naturally with duplicate copies of the same)?
A) Did you inform/ take consent from any existing customer of the change that you were bringing about?
B) How does this alter the total percentage of covered area vis-a-vie the total stipulated/ promised open area of the total project?
C) does bringing in a new block without increasing the acreage of the project size, increase/decrease the total super area to carpet area calculation?
D) if the actual area of the flat has been decreased due to the above calculation, then isn't it your duty to inform all your customers of this change and decrease the cost of the apartments proportionately?
These are some fundamental questions to which we would like straightforward answers from you. We, have already patiently waited for FOUR years to get satisfactory answers. But now we will not comply with your vague, ambiguous and insinuating statements, as these have led us only into trouble.
As customers, it’s our right to have full and rightful knowledge of the status of the project in which we have invested our hard earned life savings. More than anything else, it's your contractual obligation to provide correct and factual information.

Your reluctance/unwillingness to share or answer critical and vital information about the project automatically implies your breach of trust and contractual obligation.
Hence, it goes without saying that we would not be obliged to honour any part/clause of your contract if you, on your part don't confirm by it. Thanks, looking forward to your earliest reply, so that we can take informed decision.

Friday, June 25, 2010

One year !!!

Exactly one year ago on this day we had started a group to create awareness among customers of Era Landmarks " REDWOOD RESIDENCY" project in Neharpar, faridabad, sector78, Haryana.
Since the we have not only grown in strength in terms of the number of people in our group, but have in total met about four hundred people of other projects of the same builder in NCR. Its so sad that all projects of ERa Landmarks are languishing in dust, due to malicious and callous attitude and work ethics of the developer. total families that are suffering today due to shoddy and corrupt practises of Era Landmarks would easily be more then 2000.
Such a large number of people cannot get justice and are running from pillar to post for a simple reason that they are not together and that ,they fear all the money that they have paid the builder will go down the drain, as he being powerful and the one who controls the market with his dominance will further delay(deliberately) the possession of their plot/flat/floor/shops. Also, they fear that if they form a group and try to seek answers from the builder the builder would then might cancel their allotment and refund their money with postdated cheques of 9months or later, by deducting 20% of the total cost. Mainly this fear of further loosing their hard earned money and our countries slow judicial system, helps such unscrupulous builders to so blatantly plunder all rules and regulation.
It is amazing how, Era landmarks has sold four projects almost three years back and has till date not even got the building plans approved. Isn't it illegal to collect 45% or money from customers and start construction without even getting the necessary approvals. The modus operadi is to collect money by illegally starting construction (excavation and raft work) and then after 40 to 50% money is pocketed by Era it stops work and then uses this money that it has illegally generated to make profit by manipulating the market and organizing speculative activity through its broking partners. Hence it multiplies its profits and grows bigger and bigger where as the common man, who is the customer, is caught unknowingly in this vicious circle.
The group was concentrating on first reaching out to people and create awareness about the way Era Landmarks is duping all its customers, which we have been able to successfully achieve. Our next and most important step will be to pressurize Era into fulfilling all its original promises, like the land in the middle should be given to the residents of this project as the CENTRAL GREEN PARK( Era has in the last four years not even bought this piece of land that it showed in its marketing brochure as the Central park)second it has to come clean on from what date it will start giving us the penalty for not completing the project on assured time, third we will not accept its arbitrary Rs 5 persquarefeet penalty, instead we should be given the same 18% penalty that Era charges us when we default in making our installment payment, there should be equality in this matter which is very justified. Third, we want them to assure us that the club as shown in the brochure will be handed over to the residents welfare society, Era has already started construction of a new tower on the land assigned for the club and now there isn't enough land left in the complex to accommodate the original size club.
These are the issues which the group has to get Era to agree on and that will be a humongous task, considering Era's reputation and past record. Our real victory will be to get all that we were promised. With the full co-operation of all members and their total and complete support, we can definitely get the desired results. Thanking everyone who has helped us through our struggle and hope they continue to do so in the future as well.
Thanking all once again!!!!!

Sunday, June 6, 2010

ERA LANDMARKS-REDWOOD RESIDENCY PROJECT

This is a copy of the article in Economic times(07-06-10)

NEW DELHI: In a bid to check rampant malpractices in the realty sector, the Competition Commission of India (CCI) has decided to suo motu inquire if
various developers are misleading the buyers, apart from looking into specific complaints against market leader DLF.

Taking note of, the general complaint of delayed possession, change in terms and conditions of sale agreements and developers making it almost impossible for a customer to opt out, the commission has also decided to look into complaints of misleading advertisements, a source said.

On the basis of complaints from individuals who have booked flats from various developers, the CCI has referred the complaints against DLF to the director general-investigations for a probe, the source said. When contacted, DLF officials said they have not received any notice from the CCI, a market watchdog created to check abuse of market dominance.

“We have not received any letter from the CCI in this regard so far. Therefore, we would not like to comment on this matter without knowing the exact nature of the complaint,” a DLF spokesperson said. According to one such complaint, DLF had promised to complete its residential project in Gurgaon called Blair in 2009 but the buyers are yet to get possession.

Another individual has alleged that for the project Height, DLF had initially announced it as an 18-floor apartment
but later on added 10 more storeys without informing the buyers. These complaints were admitted under section4 of the Competition Act of 2002, which pertains to abuse of dominance by a player in a relevant geography. The CCI on its part is learnt to have “prima facie” found that DLF has abused its dominant market position and the agreement was “one-sided” in nature and there were “variations from the initial stipulations.”

The CCI, sources said, could also look into similar practices by other developers. The Commission, which became fully functional last July, is empowered by an Act of Parliament to penalise the guilty or ban a prevalent malpractice.

The Commission sources said it was more of an industry issue and the buyers in general were facing such problems irrespective of any specific developer. It is, therefore, appropriate to look into the general practice along with specific complaints.

Tuesday, June 1, 2010

Era Landmarks Redwood Residency project

We are a group of people who have come together for the sole purpose of salvaging our hard-earned investment and also to make general public aware of the perils of booking homes with unscrupulous and unprofessional developer Like ERA LANDMARKS.Four years since we booked our apartments with them(approx700 flats) there has been no clarity whatsoever on what Era will finally deliver,1) When will we get our apartments possession?2) What is the status of the central park land- by when will the developer finally get the land from the third party?3) If they had not got the land then at the time of booking why was that piece of land not marked "others land", in the brochure. Isn't it a deliberate attempt to miss-represent the facts and induce end users on materially incorrect and false documents?4) As Era is already late in construction....what will be the penalty that they will pay us?5) How have they calculated the penalty structure?6)Is the developer allowed to arbitrarily decide on the penalty clause or their is statutory guidelines that have to be followed?7) How did Era start construction work and demanded installments from customers when it did not have the building plan approvals for sector-78 from the concerned regulatory authorities?8) As all money collected prior to the sanctions is illegal, will Era give interest on the money it took in advance?These are some of the questions that we want answers on from Era Landmarks.Unfortunately it does not believe in sharing Information with its own clients hence we have been forced to get together and voice our concerns through this platform.This is also a part of my complain to the Honourable President Of India and the Department of Consumer Affairs. Would request all group members to send their complains on the link provided. Thanks.