Another blot on Era landmarks

Era landmarks, so conveniently sold another project by the name of Divine Court, in sector 76, Faridabad. Under the newly developed marketing gimmick of Budget Homes. The customers were promised that the construction of the said project will start immediately and the Bhumi-Pujan will be done in oct'09, till date no construction activity has been undertaken by the developer, forget about bhumi-pujan. Above that the developer had also promised to give possession of these independent floors in 2 years time, with already 6 months gone, how will they ever be in a position to construct so may floors in the given time frame. Its only fraud after fraud. As there is no effective way of tackling with such a callous and malicious developer.
what has really happened is that the developer and the brokers are enjoying the benefits of our laboured money whereas the customers are languishing in dust and nobody is able to fight these bloated and politically connected Mafia's of today.

regulator

We all know that in India, Real estate sector has been growing at a tremendous pace.As real estate caters to our increasing populations increasing housing needs,it has to be regulated well. Earlier, government was the sole allocator of land,plots,flats, shops,offices,commercial and industrial spaces in India. Naturally the private sector saw a lucrative market that had a high potential of multiple digit growth. As more and more entrants discovered their wealth in an Indian economy that was seeing a sharp rise in disposable incomes,a lot of dubious and fraudulent developers also creeped in to take advantage of the growing bubble.As the real estate prices escalated every month,project after project were launched by unscrupulous developers,advertising of great deals at naturally lesser price then some of the reputed names in the industry.Thereby sucking in crores of rupees from the unknowing customers.In NCR alone there have been at least a dozen reported cases of developers defaulting on their commitments,aggregating the total scam to thousands of crore's.
We all remember how many scams happened in the Indian stock markets till SEBI became a prudent regulator with handsome teeth.Similarly we have RBI to regulate Indian banking sector,IRDA for Indian Inssurance sector and TRAI for the telecom sector.Its high time that the new incumbent government takes note of the growing real estate sector and recognizes the importance and need of a prudent regulator,otherwise a lot of its citizen will get duped of their hard earned wealth by such fraudulent developers.In India still only a minuscule percentage of our population participates in the stock market,but housing is different,its one need that all citizens of our country need to fulfill.Housing also requires a considerable amount of capital unlike the stock market.So any or all real estate scams that are prevalent in these times is hurting people/customers a lot. Huge wealth erosion due such developers has made a lot of people seek legal aid,which as we all know is an exhaustive exercises. It could take years till any conclusion/relief can be sought by the customers who are unjustly suffering and this complex legal system will make them suffer and loose more(financially as well as emotionally).Hence a bigger and definate need for REGULATOR in real estate sector in India to curb the growing menance of fraudulent developers,making the system clean and transparent, and taking up redrrasal of malpractices by developers in an fast forward way.Hoping it would be taken up at the earliest by the government and such regulator will soon be leaching in developers in India.

learn

Every business news channels or newspaper are carrying article after article telling us how real estate companies are trying to raise capital and how RBI is being cautious of lending to them.No,not actually cautious its very nervous in lending to them.Ever wondered why?Even when these so well informed institutions do all due diligence and take all securities and guarantees from the developer.Also they charge them appropriate interest on the amount loaned,and they have benefit of a larger size than the developer to compete at all levels(legally in case of default in payment).Yet with so many formalities,legalities and due diligence on the viability of the project,these institutions are scared.BECAUSE,these developers are not transparent in their dealings,they have the knack of even fooling well informed institutions.From their disclosure of their land bank ,building plan approvals to execution of the project,everything is nothing but a big sham.(I am not taking names here but this is a prevalent practise of many in the industry).
What can we learn from these banks that-
1)That we should try and ascertain all aspects of the project before parking our funds into any project.
2)Should take written and irrevocable underwriting from the developer that all his building plans are approved and that what is being sold will be completed in the same design and standard,on the given time plan and that any delay will cost the developer a pre-prescribed fee or penalty.
3)That the onus of declaration should be on the developer and not the other way round as is the case today,we are made to sign documents on which it is clearly written that the customer has understood everything and agrees with all information.But no information is given in writing on the project,only verbally communicated partial information,deemed to be complete.
4)That we should know when to be assertive with them and not have this attitude that there are so many people involved in this project what will happen to them will also be my destiny.Because of our lenient nature has made these people muster the courage to bite us.
5)To be proactive and a bulldog.when ever you see your developer drifting away from its commitment,ATTACK.
Maybe,if we became as careful and cautious as larger financial institutions only then can we leash in these fraudulent monsters from eroding our hard earned wealth and peace of mind.

Article In THE TIMES OF INDIA

There was This article that i was reading in the news paper thought it would be nice if all of us could share it.Hope our system will quickly change and we could initiatelegal action against ERa.Please read,The aam aadmi looking to own a piece of real estate might be able to breatheeasier. The possibility of being hoodwinked by asmooth-talking builder or salesman might be reduced sharply as developers willsoon be required to post project details, including civic clearances, on thewebsite of the real estate regulator.This should also reduce the chances of honest property buyers being duped bydevelopers hiding behind terms like "super area" and fine print about various"charges" to conceal actual floor area and the final costs.The model Real Estate (Regulation of Development) Bill has been long awaited andstates are expected to legislate in keeping with the detailed provisions of theproposed law. They will also set up regulators to give effect to the bill whicheven recommends a three-year jail term or penalty which may amount to apercentage of project cost for failure to register.The law to regulate real estate developers will call on builders to providedetails of the number and size of plots, layout plan, carpet area and plintharea of flats, apartments or any other housing complexes.Importantly, it will prevent builders from changing the plans or insertingcharges as the sale agreement will be considered binding. They will also postauthorised brokers and dealers.The legislation will prevent advance payments being extracted from buyerswithout a written sale agreement containing project timeline, payment detailsand possession date. The promoter will not be able to cancel the sale deedunilaterally. If there is sufficient reason to do so, a notice will have to begiven and the money paid will be returned with interest fixed to bank rate. Thepromoters would furnish a bank guarantee equal to 5% of estimated cost ofprojects.The proposed bill mooted by housing ministry, a draft of which has beencirculated to all stakeholders, has asked promoters to submit the details ofapproval and sanctions from civic agencies and bank guarantee furnished.The draft bill has maintained the power of civic agencies to approve theproject. It will be the responsibility of the developer to give information tobuyers relating to nature of the title to land, layout plan sanctioned by localauthority and plan of development works. The big advantage of the law would bethat civic agency details will be given to the regulator.The developers also cannot hide the "actual living space" they are offering tobuyers as they have to distinguish the carpet area, super area and common areaalong with the plan and specifications ofapartments.The consumer can ask promoters to spell out the details of common services likesupply of electricity, water, sewage and drainage, lift, light in passages andstaircases, sanitary services and fire-fighting instruments in the project. Andif developers fail to provide these services, consumers can approach theregulator, which can also take suo-moto cognizance and inquire into the matterand pass order as it may find necessary.If there is any deviation from the advertisement, the promoter has to compensatebuyers for any loss due to false information. In case of pulling out of aproject, the builder has to return the money with interest at a rate not morethan current rate.The buyer can also directly apply to local body for occupation certificate ifthe developer is delaying even after completion of the project and the costincurred by the allottee will be recovered from the promoter. After a saleagreement is concluded, the builder will not be able to mortgage or create acharge on plot or apartment without written consent of the buyer.

Banks refuse

It has been brought to notice that leading banks that had underwritten to finiance the apartments of the individual custmers have stopped disbursing Era more funds,on account of non performance and has sought some gurantees from Era first and only when they are furnished will these banks (ie LIC housing and IDBI housing banks)disburse funds to Era now.This same thing had happened earlier also,when in particular the IDBI bank had stooped funds to Era,it took Era more then 9months to get everything cleared even then.This raises an interesting point,which is as we all know that a leading finaicial institution has privy to more inside information then us,if they are acting in this manner,then there has to some real major issues.Hence we ought to also stop paying more and come together to press for our right to know what is actually happening at Era and why always there is a delay in construction at the site.

Now after 3 yrs of booking of plots at palwal,`Carnation greens',Era has started calling customers for allotment.It was announced at the time of pre-launch of this project that within three yrs people will get possession,but like always Era has not been able to deliver on its commitment and is trying fool people by calling for allotment.Its a request to all customers of this project to see first all papers relating to this project to ensure that it has got all legal clearances from concerned government agencies and only then sign the allotment letter otherwise you Will also get stuck like customers of redwood residency.All customers of carnations are also welcome to join our group at yahoo.Come together!!

Join

We all know that individually when we go to the developer for redressal to issues pertaining to our property we are more then often given very vague answers and more promises that will never be fulfilled,and we find ourselves trapped in shelling out more money to save whatever is left in our asset.So to protect ourselves from these fraudulent developers we have to stand in a group united to assert for our just rights as paying customers of the company.So all those who are the customers of any of the Era projects in NCR,please join this group to collectively fight for our rights.

andhERA

This is for all customers of Era Landmarks India,who have bought flats or plots in their various projects in and around the NCR.As we all know that the developer has failed to honour all its commitment,we have started a group on Yahoo India groups by the name of Era redwood residency fbd-78,so that together we can raise and share our queries and concerns on a common platform and seek collective redressal.Kindly join this group and strenghten it with your opinions and suggestions so that together we are able to make Era adhere to its original commitments.Also view experiences of other members of the group and get informed of how Era is playing with our hard earned money and our future.Thanks.