Era Landmarks: where do the Customers Go!!

Here is a message by one of the allottees of Era Landmarks project in sector-103 Gurgaon, on IREF:-

Originally Posted by propinv  ERA is still hot in resale, i guess i had exited from era in 2013, but one thing I must mention is that they have pathetic customer care(noida,main).they are not at all transparent,very callous attitude.. they do underhand dealings...false commitments . As an investment i 'think it is not bad, but one should have nerves of steel, if needed to deal with them

Agreed and my addition is they will never complete the project....
I bought one unit in 2011 in phase 2. Waited for 1 year for the start of construction. Since i got this bad feeling due to the problem in sector 68 project i tried to sale it in 2012. Got the deal struck at 3650 with a dealer who wanted to sale it further but couldn't for one month so he left the deal in between and i moved on. Since then i tried real hard and got the deal struck again in 2013 about 75 rs above than the last one. Successfully done that deal i took a sigh of relief. Now see the thing i can purchase it again at 3600 or 3650 which was the price in mid 2012 and is maintaining the same price this year as well.
Well i dont have any intention to purchase it as i dont want to get frustrated again.

One Customer is talking about the callous attitude of Era Landmarks Customer Care and the other one is informing how he sold out his investment after 2 years which he can re-enter (God forbid!!!) at the same rate as it was in 2012.

What is wrong with properties under construction or sold by Era Landmarks, do every home buyer trying to purchase flat with other builder also faces the same uncertainty, is it industry practice to frustrate the home-buyer, do all builders deprive its customers factual information, do all builders use deceptive techniques to lure buyers to purchase their residential schemes and then gain at their expense????? or are customers of ERA LANDMARKS facing some special treatment??

From evidence available, it seems that the latter is true. In Delhi and NCR alone around 6 lakh flats, plots & Independent floors are at varying stages of completion or construction. Number of Builders have multiple projects underway, its true that most Builders are committing, in some of their projects some type of irregularity or other, but with ERA in all its project the customers are suffering. In all projects of Era, in and around NCR, its property in the secondary market is the cheapest among other builders in that Area. For instance in a place like Neharpar, when Era launched its scheme the going rate of other builders were 1350 per sq. ft today they have jumped to around 4000 per sq. ft. where as Era is available at 2600 approx, which was also sold at same rate as projects of other builders at that time. what is the market discounting. Does Era construct inferior  homes..can not say...then why the discount..only reason understandable is that they do not deliver facilities that others do, they change locations/lay-out plans, convert green areas into additional towers, delay construction, do not have approvals like license, building plan approvals etc.... that's why the discount. also they deliver last when in all other projects 100% occupancy has been achieved. 

Which brings us to another serious question, the question of delivery of the homes. We know Era has around 8 projects in NCR. The Oldest where possession has so far not been offered is Redwood Residency, it has taken them 7 years to construct just 9 towers in an area of 10.5 acres..no wonder that construction of club has not even started, further there is no green area in the said project. What do you think would be quality of life of the residents?? moreover the project is not even continuous, it is divided from all sides by three roads. Naturally all these facts were not revealed by Era at the time of sale of the project to its customers. Therefore the customers feel cheated and that is reason why Era does not have any knowledgeable argument to give to its customer when they call and that's the reason why they resort to callous behavior with their clients. To further add to the illegalities, Era does not pay authorities its dues which is promptly collected from the customers, which further delays the projects and adds to the cost of the customers as Era forces them under coercion to pay or face cancellation. 

Faced with callous customer care who does not bother to satisfy the query of the customers, the customer is finally forced to seek justice through the legal system in place. That is why, when after years of talking and meetings with senior executives of Era failed, the  Customers of Divine Court were left with no option but to file Criminal complaint against Era for illegalities committed and filed complaint with the Director General, Town & Country Planning, Haryana. Similarly, Customers of Red Wood Residency have also filed Consumer cases as well as Criminal complaint. Consumers of 104 sector have been driven on the verge of filing their complaints as neither Era has provided them the plots nor has compensated them as promised. Consumer of Palwal project have also filed consumer case and criminal complaint, same I guess would be the procedure adopted by other consumer groups as for how long would their patience last. After all, home purchase requires considerable amounts and no one would want their lives saving to go down like this.

Take care and pray that Era mends its ways so that other projects and its consumers do not suffer the same fate!!!

Message from ERA LANDMARKS-DIVINE COURT SEC-76, FARIDABAD

Dr. Naveen the President of the Divine Court RWA had initiated the fight against the illegalities being committed by Era Landmarks by filing complaints with the Commissioner of Police Faridabad and with DG, Town & Country Planning Haryana. The Police has forwarded the groups complaint with their EOW cell and for the first time today the group has received information on their complaint to the DG, TCP, which Dr. Naveen has communicated to all fellow group members as below:-

Good Morning,

Mr Anil Kumar,Co-complaint against Era, Received a call from Mr Nirmal Chand  9872994389, of DGTCP Office in Chandigarh,. He said that you have done a good thing ,by complaint against Era Divine Court,He also told that they would not have known if we did not complaint about Era divine. They have sent a notice to M/s countrywide about why they have allowed Era to develop,Market,Sell Era Divine Court in Sector 76,Fbd. without DGTCP permission.

The Mobile Number Of MrAnil Kumar is 9818788316.

End of Message send by Dr. Naveen.

Hope this encourages others to take a stand and not let Era commit further frauds with its customers!!!

Take care!!!

ERA LANDMARKS PROJECTS IN NCR SAME STORY..CONSUMER SUFFERING!!

Era Landmarks has since 2006 launched in different parts of NCR Eight residential projects which suffer the same fate where the consumer is suffering and Era is merrily enjoying the booty. we start with the first project launched by Era in 2006.
REDWOOD RESIDENCY:

The project was launched in March 2006 in sec-88 Faridabad on 25 Acres of land. This land still belongs to Era, but after a year of launch Era decided arbitrarily to shift the project to sec-78, Faridabad and allotted units to consumers by way of inducements of 4 acre park in the center and semi-luxurious build up flats with all modern facilities of club with Jacuzzi etc on a 10.5 acre group housing scheme. After 7 years of launch the consumers are still to get possession of the basic flats as Era once again has changed the specifications of the flats from semi-luxurious to basic, the Central Park is nowhere in the picture now as that land was never part of the project, the club and all modern facilities are a distant dream for all consumers. After 7 long years the what has the consumer got...NOTHING EXCEPT FOR EMPTY PROMISES.

ERA GREEN WORLD & DIVINE COURT PALWAL:

These two projects were sold in 2007, Green World was sold as plotted colony whereas Divine court was sold as highrise group housing colony. The licence for Green world was obtained in 2009, after a delay of 2 years and layout plan was sanctioned in 2010. By 2010 the company had promised possession. the fact is that even till date the possession has not been offered. Moreover Era has sold Villas and Independent Floors in this township without any approvals from the competent Authority. There are also certain patches of land that is not in its possession but has deliberately misled the consumers by showing a layout plan wherein excess to its project is encumbrance free.
Similarly the Divine court consumers who were sold a group housing scheme were later forced to accept change in the character of the township from highrise to independent floor. from 2007 to 2013 the consumers are still patiently waiting to get delivery of their floors for which they have been paying since long.

ERA SEC-68 GURGAON:

This is was first foray of Era in the high market area of Gurgaon. This project has seen more downs than ups. the initial project was scrapped thereafter independent floors was proposed that too was scrapped. Then came the two projects for which Era did get the licenses. one of the license was recently cancelled due to non-payment of edc by era. it is pertinent to note that Era has collected huge amounts from consumers of this project. Construction is withheld, no banks have disbursed any loans on this project, no building plans have been approved by authority. Consumers are in total spot as they do not know the future of their investments and are going to Era's offices to seek redressal but does Era care...has it shown any concern to make good all the promises it has made...NO.

DIVINE COURT FARIDABAD:

Launched since 2007 but was scrapped and relaunched in new avatar in 2009 as independent floor. Possession was to happen in 2011. No possession till date as construction still not complete. Moreover the fact that Era till date has no License from the Authorities to construct has led the consumers to take action. The Consumers have formed an RWA and approached the Commissioner of Police, Faridabad and lodged their complaint. the matter has been referred to the EOW (ECONOMIC OFFENCE WING) of the department. The MD was called by the investigating officer and instead of showing a license the MD handed over a Bilateral agreement between BPTP and ERA wherein BPTP the licensee has agreed to let Era sale, construct and market, approx. 26 acres of land in its licensed area of approx. 55.98 Acres.  Proving very clearly that Era does not follow the laws of the land instead is violating every rule, provision, regulation and conditions to gain at the expense of the consumers.

ERA SECTOR-103 GURGAON:

This was launched with much fan fare as a 100 Acre township...those who bought the propaganda regret the day...as it turns out that Era had license for mere 10.44 Acres Approx and thereafter in 2012 got another license for 10.92 Acres. Era in the meanwhile has sold three phases in this project, has made allotments to phase-1 & 2 consumers, started construction by way of excavation only in phase-1. The banks have still not started disbursement, many consumer to whom allotment has been made have not received BBA's from the company, there is news that some part of the land has been sold to Ansal giving nightmares to its customers ..in short in last two -three years nothing much has happened on the project that would give some relief to its consumers that their investments are safe and that they would get there flats in time.

ERA SECTOR-104:

Thousands of consumers got trapped into a very attractive plotted scheme offered by Era. The situation today is very grim...even after 2.5 Years Era has not agreed to fulfill any of the obligations it was supposed to, leaving consumers to run from pillar to post to save guard their lives saving.  Some consumers have approached the EOW (Delhi) some are invoking the media to cover their plight.  

ERA SECTOR-86:

The factual matrix is not any different in this residential scheme from any other of the companies other projects. The same story is being repeated here as well. The company has in last two years done what ever wrong it could do...the land on which the project was to come and for which Era did get license was sold to Ansal, leaving the company with only 7 Acres Approx land for which it does not have license. Yet it went ahead with Allotment on this very land. in process accommodating approx 350 consumers with allotment and keeping other in wait for phase-2 to get underway soon. NO meaningful construction has started, no Bank is funding this project, but to make matters worse, the area of the apartments of the consumers have already been increased substantially and approx 32.5% of the basic cost has already been collected by Era on this increased area....The question is what has the Consumer got after making huge payments...JUST A BUNCH OF PROMISES!!

It is evident from what is happening in the eight projects of Era in NCR, that Consumers are being taken for a ride, illegalities are being committed with disdain and with total contempt of the law. The consumer is left with no choice but to knock the door of judiciary.

ERA LANDMARKS (I) Ltd

What is more important the means or the end. There has been a constant debate whether the means to the end are more important then the end itself or whether its the end result which is more pervasive and important and means can be ignored and forgotten. While we can keep debating it, we have seen many a times the past shows a direct correlation between the present and future of the civilization/individual/ company. Here we are narrowing down to just one company named M/s Era Landmarks (India) Ltd, which is a service provider to thousands of us. Its track record is what is a matter of past. It has a devious record, where it has been found wanting in all and every sphere of over all development and fulfillment of its promises and obligations. Be it the case of Redwood Residency in sector-78, Divine court in sector-76 Faridabad, Skyville in sector-68, Gurgaon, Cosmocity in sector-103 Gurgaon or its project in sector-86 Gurgaon.
Everywhere the customers are forced to cough up more then agreed amounts, for facilities which keep diminishing with the slow rate of development work. For example Redwood Residency, was first sold in 2006 as project to come in sec-88, which within an year was changed to sector-78, thereafter the layout plan sold to intending allottees was changed- new tower was brought in and the 4 acre green park land disappeared miraculously to be later learnt through the sanctioned layout plan that it never existed in the plan in the first place, so did other facilities like semi-luxurious extra, for which the customer had paid.
In last seven years the development of this project is pathetic, out of the sanctioned 6 towers the company has been able to roughly complete work in half of just two towers and has started offering possession to people of these two towers, The community center work has still not started, parks are a distant dream for the people who will pay for possession in this month and they have been told that they would get possession only in May. A maintenance charge for an year is being slapped on them @ Rs. 2.60 Per Sq. ft. where no facilities exist on as of now, Further the Area has been increased by 50 Sq. ft where no addition to the land has happened. Does the customer get anything in return for his money even after 7 long years, only thing that Era dishes out is one way of cheating extra amount from its customer with out providing anything in return. Therefore the sum total is that Era Gains on each step for the means adopted by them are only to advance their interest over the interest of the consumers.
Many a times I have tried to show through the blogs the intention of the company from how it has behaved in the past with its customers. Customers of Era in Gurgaon were very skeptical and found the argument delusional. The bases was always in the means, the means employed by Era have always been towards advancing their own interests with scant regard for its contractual obligation towards its customers. They have been taking their customers, most unfortunate lot, for a ride, I would go to the extent of saying that Era is cheating with sole purpose to gain at its customers expense. The example of Redwood, Divine court and Jaipur and now Sec-68 in Gurgaon are many examples to prove the point.

Sec-68 License was granted to Era in 2008, Please see Snap shot of the DTCP webpage which clearly says the license has been Rejected by the directors order, numerous customers have bought their dream homes as per promise of Era in this project and Era has collected huge amounts from these customers, yet has failed to deposit the EDC demanded by the DTCP/HUDA for this project. Not only did ERA fail to deposit the EDC for this project it has failed to pay EDC as demanded in almost all its project, if you all remember Era was raided by Central Revenue Dept. for evading the service tax dues for 2012, these issues highlight the need for urgent action on part of all the customers of Era to seriously think of joining hands and sharing a common platform to save guard their lives saving against the unscrupulous developer, Era. The company has illustrious history of employing devious means therefore the end would always be grave and writ with despair and pain for the customers. Gandhi always put stress on pure means to reach to a higher end, he showed to our world that means are more important then the end result.
Certainly this will not be the end of wrong doings of Era, certainly they would go on committing more such offences but if ,we as customers are aware of our rights, we can enforce proper, transparent mechanism to reign in Era's unfair trade practice and deficiency of service and force Era to adopt equitable policies which do not hurt the interest's of the customers. Hope customers from all Era projects would come forward and get united and seek fairer means adopted by Era so as to save guard consumer interests. The end would certainly depend on the means!!!

Cosmocourt-86

Here is the layout plan as presented to the intending allottees of Sector-86, Gurgaon project, which has been christened "Cosmocourt-86" by Era Landmarks (I) Ltd. As the allotment process continues, it reminds of what happened in 2007 with "Redwood Residency" Sec-78, Faridabad, Allottees.

You will not find much difference, same deliberate mis-representation of facts. Closer inspection of the Redwood Residency layout plan as provided in the brochure:-

it can be seen too clearly that  Era has indexed/put legends at most places around the project and has clearly not put any legend on the large track of land (Central area around which all other towers are shown) which is shown in the same tone of green as other areas which have indeed been marked as 8 ( landscaped area). The allottees of this project later were shocked to find that this large piece of land does not belong to this project. Era should have marked area which was not forming the part of the project as "OTHERS LAND", that would have given the true picture of the project into which the intending allottee was going to get allotment. But that is the way ERA operates, make a big Difference, doesn't it.
Now when we see the "Cosmocourt-86" Plan, it is evidently clear that many areas have been left un-indexed, though they have the same green color coding, to give allottees the same visual delight of the project having ample green areas and of future life mist nature. The area shown as green infornt of Block G & B are two examples, across both towers a considerable area is shown without any legends to show for sure, what these areas are meant to be. I would therefore request the intending allottees to kindly get all facts and critical information before you take allotment of your valuable apartments from Era.
Regards

Era tie's its customers in knots

Era landmark (I) Ltd, company which propagates high quality real estate development, has been recently exposed in Jaipur where its towers were demolished ( for illegal construction) and than by the central revenue dept. when they raided their offices to recover due service tax for 2012. According to the news published, Era Landmarks gave an amount of 5 crores to settle its dues.

These issues of misappropriation and illegal construction coupled with various problems faced by other consumers of Era's various projects in Faridabad, Palwal and Gurgaon have indeed showed Era to be doing exactly opposite of what it propagates. In Faridabad, both - Redwood Residency and Divine court languish in dust- Redwood was supposed to be handed over in 24 months of date of booking ( which happened in 2006), fact is Era has not even completed construction of all the towers, neither have they build the club or other facilities as promised, Infact they do not have OC from DTCP for even a single tower. Divine court was also to be delivered by Dec,2011..the fate is similar..consumers have paid more than 90% and construction is still not complete. When will these be delivered no one in Era is prepared to commit, the consumers have not only paid their hard earned money but are paying EMI's and rent, Era seems unmoved by the trauma of the consumer.

As if this was not enough, Era launched a lot of projects in Gurgaon over the period of last 3 years, Sec-86, sec-68 and sec-103...consumers of all these projects know, that neither Era has started construction on any of these new sectors nor has it received any sanction from the DTCP for it. Therefore no banks have started funding these projects. In some projects Era has made allotment of flats too ( how can any developer allot a flat when it has no approval), this they have carried out by cleverly covering their footprint with devilish and unconstitutional clauses that mention Era has not received any sanction and the customer is aware of it and further the allotment is only tentative. How can allotment become tentative and how does a builder allot units when it does not have any rights to allot under the Act of 1975??

Further, these consumers of Gurgaon projects have been made to suffer not only by delay in start of construction but also by devious method of extortion adopted by Era to increase the super area of the flat even before allotting the customers their dwelling units. Imagine delay and increase in area happening even before drawings have been approved or construction started, what be the fate of these projects when the construction starts??

Looking at above facts, it is evident that Era has only one motive which is to profiteer, legally and more so illegally at the expense of the consumer, who is caught in a trap laid very beautifully by Era. On the quality of construction, be informed, that when company's intentions are in doubt and it only wants to profit, it fails to deliver quality too..which will be clear if consumers can spare time and visit Faridabad or Palwal where construction is happening.

ERA Premises Searched by IT Dept

Please find the link of an extremely important news that was there in this edition of 25/01/2013.

http://www.realtyplusmag.com/rpnewsletter/fullstory.asp?news_id=22866&cat_id=1

it says that Era Landmarks offices and residential properties were searched by the Central Revenue Department for alleged service tax evasion. Though Era has not commented on it, the officials how ever in their recorded statement have confirmed that Era Landmarks has paid through post dated cheques an amount of 5 crore towards meeting its obligation which was over due since April,2012.

This service tax is collected by ERA LANDMARKS from its customers just like the EDC (External Development Charge) that has to be paid to the coffers of HUDA. In ths same fashion as Era has not paid the collected service tax the company has not paid EDC amounts collected from its customers and the accounts office of DTCP, due to this non-payment towards statutory dues the DTCP is compounding an interest of 12 to 15 % p.a. which is hurting the customers who though paying all dues does not get to see construction start on time etc. Hope DTP enforcement takes a leaf from central revenue dept and forces Era to pay all its dues and helps the customers to get their projects developed and executed as per license terms and conditions.