Wednesday, May 30, 2012

REAL ESTATE CONSUMER - WAY FORWARD!

Here is a very informative article in ECONOMIC TIMES which should be a must read for all of people who are customers of Real estate developers in India. It talks about HOW WE CAN MAKE BUILDERS COMPLETE PROJECTS OF COMPENSATE FOR DELAYS- 

This is quite a long article but the options a customer has are not exhaustive. It is here that I would like to introduce another thread of information in a form of another link, to another article published in FINANCIAL EXPRESS. See how customers have had to take the last recourse available after all other options have failed and how the Number of cases in consumer court against the Realtors are increasing by the day.

The recent decision of the Competition Commission of India (CCI) to slap a R630-crore fine on realty major DLF for abusing its dominant position is only a tip of the iceberg. If the records of the Delhi consumer court are taken into account, the maximum number of cases registered are against real estate companies.
Out of every 10 complaints which get registered at the Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission (consumer court) in Delhi, eight are against real estate players.
Currently, there are around 400 complaints pending before the consumer court with claims amounting to upward of R20 lakh. An official of the consumer court said: “Roughly, more than 60% of the complaints received by the court are against real estate players and the number is rising with each passing day. Till date from January 2011 we have received almost 120 complaints.”
The nature of complaints ranges from unlimited delays in granting possession of houses to charging more than the price quoted at the time of the deal to increasing the number of floors.
According to the official, ever since CCI-DLF case hit headlines, the court has witnessed an increase in the inquiries regarding the procedure to file complaints, the success ratio, and the time taken in settling the cases.
Supreme Court lawyer ML Lahoty, who was the lawyer for the residents’ associations in the case against DLF, said, “Consumers not just from Delhi but from Hyderabad, Kolkata, Mumbai, Pune and many other places have come to me seeking advise against the developers.”
Delhi State Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission’s former president Justice J D Kapoor, however, maintained that the Consumer Act, under which consumer courts function, lacks teeth. “The Act says that the consumer should get redressal within 90 days, but this is seldom the reality,” he said.
According to Confederation of Real Estate Developers’ Associations of India (Credai) president Lalit Kumar Jain, transparency is a big issue with the developers. “Most of the developers do not clarify the actual carpet area in their advertisements. Also, there are so many charges that they never mention (these) in their advertisements or their brochures. At the end of the day consumers feel cheated,” said Jain.
source: http://www.financialexpress.com/news/Complaints-against-realtors-rising/849327/
I hope the above information is helpful in raising awareness, on how to tackle this growing menace of unscrupulous builders inflicting unnecessary monetary losses on the customer, by way of over charging/changing layouts & delaying the possession of the apartments/shops/plots/floors etc. Take care & God Bless!

Tuesday, May 29, 2012

Current Status of Redwood Residency-78, FBD


This is recent pix of the tower D (D Block) of the Redwood Residency which is under construction since 2006. As is clear from this pix which is of this month that the structure has almost been completed by Era Landmarks, but finishing work still has to get underway. As you can see from the Pix here No window/Door Frames have been Installed, Fire fighting pipes are now being installed as if on after thought, the ground is all littered with construction material &waste and debris. The Boundary wall in front of the D- Tower, clearly shows the limited open area available for residents use. The Paint work done on the building is just to give a false impression of considerable amount of work having been completed. Close Inspection of each building shows, complete chaos, bad quality of construction, rampant seepage caused due to blockage of water on each floors, Broken and cracked walls, uneven/waver/incomplete plaster on walls in each building etc etc.

This Pix is of tower E, F, G & H....here one can clearly see the boundary wall demarcating the ERA owned area of these towers and the space available within. FAR/ EXTREME (Top corner)  right hand side of the PIX shows the boundary wall not of brick/mortar but of G.I Sheets....That is where the 24 Mtrs road would enter the empty land within the boundary walls and go whole length of the E,F,G & H Towers. If you remember this land that today is alienated from our project by the boundary wall was once shown as part of the central green area around which all these towers were conceptualized. After all the numerous stories given by Era finally it is proven that this land does not belong to them, they never owned it and yet Era with the motive to cheat the consumers showed this land as part of the 10.05 acres of the township, Called "Redwood Residency." The greed of making undue profit at the expense of beleaguered customer, allowed ERa Landmarks management to charge PLC form Customers who opted for apartments facing this very land (GREENS)that Era never had owned/was never a part of the project @ Rs 100/- per sq ft. The even stranger fact is that nowhere in its agreement called the BUILDER-BUYER AGREEMENT has the company in any of the clauses said what this PLC of RS 100/- per sq ft is all about. It just says PLC-1 and PLC-2....what these PLC's are for, is not stated....ISN'T That SMART....It sure is.

This Pix is of Tower-B, you can get a glimpse of the damp walls which are hurriedly been covered by coat of paint. In this pix also you can see that no window frames etc have been fitted so far. which clearly demonstrates that the Builder will take almost another year to come close to giving possession of flats to the customers.
From this you can judge what the customers have gone through in the last almost 7 years, since they parted with the booking amount to the company for homes that were promised to be Semi-luxurious, with 75% green & open area, amidst the bounties of nature, with 4 acre park in between (which was never part of their land) with toddlers park, creche, gazebo's, swimming pool & gym ( the land for which is now nowhere to be seen on the site as the one in the brochure has been sold as new tower of 9 floors), squash courts ( now it seems people will play on the roads that bisect the township...which were never shown in the brochure but were part of the layout sanctioned plan drawn by Era), all this and more to be delivered by 2009 according to the Chairman of Era Infrastructure ( which was the company that sold the apartments to the customers but later after collecting the booking amount, created an independent company ERA LANDMARKS)

Monday, May 28, 2012

ERAdiocity or Cosmoscity

Which ever way one see's it, its plain and simple; misinformation spread by the propaganda machinery of Era. The brokers who go to any length to claim any and every thing that the Project will not have but they will not shy away from propagating about it, sample this;-

ERA Groups new project in sec-103, Dwarka Expressway, Gurgaon
We are pleased to inform you that Era Group is launching soon a
lifestyleequipped, group housing project spread over a sprawling 25
acres.

This project is enviably located on the Dwarka Expressway, Sector-
103, Gurgaon surrounded by very high profile residential, business
hub, High RiseCondominiums and Corporate Towers.

A diversified sectoral presence, a pan-India network and an impeccable
trackrecord of servicing some of the biggest names in the public and
private domain have made Era a name to reckon with in the country’s
infrastructure development space.

Headquartered in New Delhi, the Era Group of Companies is promoted by
Mr.H.S. Bharana, a civil engineering professional with almost three
decades ofexperience in the infrastructure business and a recognised
thought leader innation building.
Project AdvantagesAll Approved Project by DTCP Haryana Best Located
Project on Dwarka Expressway Gurgaon.Two way connectivity from Dwarka
& NH-8 with three side ventilation & in the vicinity of Project
Like(BPTP, EMAAR-MGF, RAHEJA, INDIA-BULLS,SPIRE & Many upcoming
Commercial projects & Hotels) & Reliance SEZ.Located on upcoming metro
station.5 mins drive from IGI Airport & Dwarka after connectivity of
DwarkaExpressway.Flexible Construction Linked plan and Easy Finance
from leading Banks. 24-hrs power back up with latest security
features.*Facilities include Club, Gymnasium and Swimming
Pool.*Earthquake resistant construction for safe living.Shops and
Departmental Stores within the complex.Unique floor planning.




The Realtor says the project is 25 Acres..great but the company..ERa Landmarks does not say so on its website....sample this;-





ERA COSMOCITY Gurgaon is a group housing project at Sector 103,Gurgaon on Dwarka-expressway. Cosmocity will have high feature apartment at affordable prices. This project will fulfill resideiacl requirement of Delhi as well as Gurgaon
"Book your flat right now to avail the best price". Dont miss the golden opportunity.


Highlights
§  All Approved Project by DTCP Haryana.
§  Best Located Project on Dwarka Express-Way Gurgaon.
§  Two way connectivity from Dawarka & NH-8 with three side ventilation & in the vicinity of Project Like(BPTP, EMAAR-MGF, RAHEJA, INDIA-BULLS, SPIRE & Many upcoming Commercial projects & Hotels) & Reliance SEZ.
§  Located on upcoming Metro Station.
§  5 mins drive from IGI Airport & Dwarka after connectivity of Dwarka Exp. Way.
§  Affordable mix of 2BHK, 3BHK and 4BHK apartments.
§  Flexible Construction Linked plan and Easy Finance from leading Banks.
§  24-hrs power back up with latest security features.
§  Facilities include Club, Gymnasium and Swimming Pool.
§  Earthquake resistant construction for safe living.
Shops and Departmental Stores within the complex


The link to this page is;  http://www.cosmoscity.in/details.html

YOu can see that the Company is talking about everything except the very basic question of the Acreage of the project..WHY?? Second very interesting point that both the realtor and the Builder talk about is that, "THE ALL APPROVED PROJECT BY DTCP, HARYANA," In Haryana it is compulsory that the BUILDER has to provide information of the License No., Licensee name, LAyout plan/building plan sanctioned from DTCP, etc..which Interestingly the builder is avoiding and on its company website, which is http://www.eragroup.co.in/EraLandmark/
the Builder is saying Project coming soon....so who owns the M/s Headway Buildcon Pvt Ltd, in which name the realtors advertised and recieved cheques?? WHy is the Builder highlighting "PROJECT COMING SOON," On its website if all approvals have been obtained?? WHy has the construction not started in last 2 years, when the so called approvals were in place??? More Importantly if the project is approved, why has ERA not declared the Acreage of the PROJECT on its website.... when all is approved...what is keeping ERA from disclosing it...but is allowing the realtors to arbitrarily commit any excessive figure.
Pls see what Home-buyer of this project are discussing;-

land bank is roughly 110 acres in sector 103 and 14 acres patch in sector 104. Since it is above 100 acres era has also launched plots 6 months back 27000 psq yard. Presently booking for plots is closed and will be reopened in oct,nov approx 45000 to50000per sq yard


According to what has been told people are sharing their input with others on public forums, discussing and debating advantages of a larger township vs smaller ones, Not knowing what really is the size of the township they have invested in as the builder has verbally said many a things but has given nothing in written. The fact could be really disturbing for all these investors, who have invested their lives saving into buying flats and plots in this scheme of ERA LANDMARKS.


The Fact that Era Landmarks has got licence can not be disputed, but to develop a residential township of how many acres??? How many flats can he sell??? How many has he already sold?? Phase-1, Phase-2 and Phase-3 has been sold in last 2 years and yet no bank has started LOAN FACILITY and NO CONSTRUCTION has started,WHY???


There are more Why's than answers; In what ERa is doing with its Customers. Has anyone heard of M/s Desert Moon Realtech Pvt Ltd, yes this is one of the subsidiaries that by Era's own admission ceased to exist from 28-3-2008, Yet ERa got license under this name on 16/10/2010 for Group Housing  vide Licence Number 79, for land measuring 10.44 acres, for sec-103 in Gurgaon. 

As to the rest of the land that the Company or the realtor has claimed to be part of the township, home-buyers should ask them and make 100% sure by demanding written replies and copies of approved building/ layout plans. The truth should be known to the person who is buying a house, after all its not just the walls of the apartment we are purchasing we are buying a part of the township for which we pay as fair share of our common area when we buy flats on super area. God Bless!

Saturday, May 26, 2012

ERAmantra!!

Here's a little journey as to how corrupt rule and how Innocent customers of our great mother land are cheated in the name of selling, the dream of a shelter under which they will be secure and protected from the vagaries of the outside world. Instead from the time they are sold the same their problems take birth and the protective cover is stolen from over their heads. See how, the Company called ERA through its Realtors starts selling to people, flats in SECTOR-86, GURGAON, for which, how much land the company has got the customers are not even aware till 2012. Its not that at the time of booking the Realtors did not boast about the Acreage of the project, but nothing was put forth in black n white before the customers...so it begins with paying the BOOKING AMOUNT on the assurance that within few months the Company will start construction and allot the apartments and till that time the customer is not suppose to pay any single paisa to the company. The Customer waits patiently for the allotment to happen...and when time keeps passing away without anyone of the commitment being met, the Customer starts to go to the builder ( where he is fed one story) than to the Realtor (who plants another one) and when stories do not add to any progress the Customer starts using the technological innovation of posting queries on net to form a group of people who have invested in the same project and are going through same pain and nervousness. all this process takes time and the real eruptions happen when one of the members goes to the project site and comes back to inform all....


Visited the area yesterday. Developments are quite encouraging. Could not go to specific area since broker who was wid me said that land of era is not clear as yet. That is why it is Still so cheap. Overall development is good in terms of roads, open areas etc
Sent on my BlackBerry® from Vodafone


THE LAND IS NOT CLEAR....after almost 1.5 years of paying to the company, knowing fully well that the company has clearly said that all clearances have been taken, Now I GET TO KNOW this..what does this mean..what happens to my house now...what happens to the money I have paid...after 1.5 years now where will I find another apartment....the rates have gone up, how will I afford house somewhere else????????

"Land is not clear as yet"? Do this mean that land is disputed? i checked
with Era few times and they told me that there is no issues with land. 

immediately there is relief, a customer from the group has checked that the land is with the company...But than why is there so much of delay, why does the company not allot, why does the company not start construction, why does the company on its website still SAYING LAUNCHING SOON...SEC-86, when the fact is that it has already been sold...why there is so much of misinformation?????????

I too had a word with Nidhi/Shivani from ERA in this regard. They are just company executives speaking theoretical things. Nobody had idea why Ansals put flag on their land & even they dont know where the land is. They just said come to office and we will show you LOI of this land. Asked them to give me no. of Vikrant Gupta but nobody did, neither he was available on his ext. Some says that land is of 11-15 acres, other says 22 acres. Some says its Group housing, other says township. Era Executives themselves not clear about anything. i checked license info for sector-86, on http://tcpharyana.gov.in/  , it did not show for ERA but it has name of ansal. 

Now the Dormant customer group has become hyper active; everyone is writing what they have got to share, HOW DID ANSAL come into picture, instead of any clarity now more confusion reigns; IF ERA has LOI and other clearances why is it not starting construction, what is the size of the township????

Hello Group
I tried reaching them since last three days & had difficulty to get connected to Vikranth.Yesterday & before that  i was able to speak to different people there(Akanksha,Nidhi & someone else) & everytime I got different answers which were not justified at all. I took phone no. of Nidhi(7428663301) & she promised to revert back to me on this which never happened, Today again when I called on this no. it is switched off. Finally after lot of efforts I got sucess & could speak to Vikrant, he explained me that some of land has been sold to Ansal & that land is only covered by them where as if you travel some more distance ERA boards has covered their site.But to see this someone has to go by walk as roads are not built there yet & only walking is only option to reach there.(Mr. Sarvapreet could put some highlight on this as he recently visited there, otherwise some else can go there & see if this is true or not). Moreover Vikrant told me that Licence is not issued in ERA's Name & if someone could visit noida office then he is ready to show license documents in some other company name.Since I no more live in India so I would request someone to go & meet Vikrant to see if they have valid license papers. Their Marketing guy name is Sahid(7428302614) who never picks his call may put some highlight so please keep trying to check our luck. Vikrant also told me this project is going on slow pace & will take 4~5 months to launch.

 see how the company and its staff is trying to divert the attention of the customer and how they all are giving varied answers, only after being chased down. No one wants to share the numbers of their seniors in the builders office( Cause of reasons that can be best understood by ERA CULTURE ALONE). Finally VIkrant Gupta, tells that the builder has sold part of the land to ANSAL...BUT WHY and HOW COULD THEY SELL first to me and than sell what was sold once to me to another person/entity without informing me and taking my consent for the same? WHAT KIND OF COMPANY IS THIS? IF VIKRANT Knows under which name has the builder acquired the LICENCE than why is he not sharing the name of that company, Why does he wants the customer to come all the way from his house to know the name of the company in whose name the license is ??? More over he can scan the LICENCE document and other relevant documents and mail it to the customer..CAN HE NOT???? WHAT is GOing ON!!???

Hello Guys , We should appreciate Sachin Dua for spending his valuable time to Visit ERA & getting this Information. Sachin, Unfortunately this is made up story by ERA Group GM, to validate this statement I did made a call to one of my Uncle in India who is very Senior Govt. of India official in New Delhi & he provided me Sector -86 Ansal Project In charge phone No. I called Ansal project In charge to find out whether they are coming under collaboration in sector 86 or there is something else cooking up, He provided me following Information.
a) They are coming in collaboration with Samyak & definitely not with ERA.
b) Ansal's License is applied with Samyak & pending for approval with DTCP.
c) ERA has sold their land to Samyak who is coming in collaboration with Ansal.
Another reason explained by that GM is really funny that their License for sector 86 got rejected because Haryana govt. has allotted license to them for other projects.With same reason how come DLF,Ansal, BPTP & various other builders are building their so many townships. Their is something fishy & questioning again and again safety of our money.I would request to everyone who so ever is in India should come together & meet ERA folks to conclude some thing productive.

See how stories have been planted and customers being taken for a classic ride. Simply amazing how ERA can do this repeatedly, project after project; DUPE PEOPLE OF THEIR HARD EARNED MONEY. now there was collaboration happening which thankfully got sorted out courtesy call to ANSAL. BEst was that Haryana Govt is not allowing ERA to get licence as it has applied for so many..MAYBE THE REAL REASON IS SOMETHING ELSE; WHY DOESN'T VIKRANT TELL THAT...??? 

Hi Sarapreet,

I along with a friend of mine visited they Noida office on Saturday and we repeatedlly asked for proper documents but they were not very keen in showing that. Finally they told the person is on leave today and will come to office on Monday. I am trying to reach that person from morning but he is not yet available. There is something fishy with this project and we need to know what's wrong with this. Sarvapreet, is the person same Vikrant Singh who is head of sale/marketing of Era Landmarks? Do you his mail id so that we can reach hime over mail and get something in written that everything is properly put in place. 

Maybe that is why VIKRANT was in favour of customers coming to the office...had he got anything to show he would have mailed it to the person who were inquiring about it, but if he does that wouldn't the customers know what ERA has got and how ERA lied about the whole acreage of the society, how the customers were first made to believe that the Township would be 22 acres and now how can he show papers that ERA never had the Licence for 22 acres or more...wouldn't the customer know the precise date on which ERA got the licence from DTCP ..wouldn't all this reveal the truth which ERA still wants to hold dear and close to its chest so that it can launch another phase in the same township to another set of unknowing customers??


Hello Group, I had a word with Vikrant Gupta today & he confirmed that he has License copy now with him. Sandeep  visited ERA office in afternoon & was able to see the copy of license which is in name of "Resolve Estate Pvt Ltd" , area of 12.84 Acres & group housing project. I have also checked the licenseinfo published on http://tcpharyana.gov.in/ & it matches the records. Please share your PoV that is it normal practice followed by builders taking licenses on the name of any subsidary or sister concerncompany? Did anybody heard about this company ? I tried to find licenses issued on ERA group in tcpharayana website & found that there is only one license in sector-68, gurgaon. Rest all licenses areof projects in Palwal/Sirsa. Except this, ERA has project in sector-103 gurgaon & 2-3 projects in FBD, so all on different names? 


Finally after lot of hurdles created by the management and all sort of stories, one of the group members finally gets to see the elusive License Document..which is for only 12.84 acres, Hence it could be easily understood why Era was not interested in sharing this with the Customers?? Secondly if you have noticed that this Licence is in the name of a subsidiary company that by ERA's own admission ceased to exist?? Thirdly as Era has the license than why is its own WEBSITE saying that SECTOR-86 LAUNCHING SOON.??? Fourthly why is the company not allotting units and starting construction and making customers wait endlessly??? Fifth; Has ERA GOT LAYOUT PLANS APPROVED??? 
Yes its true that Era has in Gugaon only one licence in its name (rest are all subsidiaries) that is in sec-68, Gurgaon...licence No 177, granted on 11/10/2008...for a group housing complex of 10.69 acres. The License issued by DTCP is valid only for 2 years after which it needs renewal, we do not know if ERA has renewed license for sec-68....it has been 4 years now and construction is just starting, why? Also customers of Sec-68 were told that the township would be of more than 50 acres, where has all that land disappeared now???
Hope the customers of ERA sec-86 Gugaon, do not have to wait for 4 years for construction to start, like all other projects of ERa. The Fact is that ERa has not completed construction of flats sold to customers in Faridabad even after 6 years (Might take another year to complete) and as fate would have it; these flats are neither in the sector promised to customers nor is the specification same as was shown and promised at the time of booking of apartments, but the poor customer can not go anywhere as he got aware of the problems only after 3 or 4 years had elapsed and by then he was stranded with no other option available to him for the same price range any more. 
Therefore the ERAMANTRA is simple, cheat, cheat & cheat the customer at each and every stage. DO not divulge facts that the customer should know before entering into agreement of any sort and to misinform and misguide the customer by vague and crazy stories, which result in burning huge holes in the pocket of the customer. Beware Of the ERAmantra.