[deemash]

Originally Posted by Saanil

I am also of the opinion that real estate investments are not going to give returns seen in the past decade.

Originally Posted by Saanil

Just hearing the flat prices made me feel that I am not working hard enough in life to buy such things.

To get returns in the future from your property, you need to look and invest in an area where the price is affordable for you now.

[Sawyer]

Originally Posted by asingh1977

If I could get half of what I get, and go back to my small village-town of Mussoorie, I would pack now. Just now.

That still may be possible with some out of the box thinking. What your generation should worry about the most is bringing up children in the toxic environment in our cities. Air and water pollution is just one element of the toxicity that will only get worse. Road rage is another.

[amitk26]

Originally Posted by deemash

Hi Friends,

These days in Coimbatore, big builders have started using fly ash bricks.
The normal clay bricks are still being used by individual persons who construct houses.

I have read somewhere that fly ash bricks are superior than the normal clay bricks.

But few forums say that fly ash bricks emit radioactive waves and this might adversely affect humans living inside house.
Is this true?

As far as I understand, fly ash is a by-product of burning coal, which is labelled as "hazardous".

No fly ash is not radioactive it is labeled hazardous because it is a very fine air pollutant PM 2.5 IIRC so it is hazardous once it is airborne ( just like dust) Once it is bound in brick or concrete it is no longer a pollutant but part of aggregate.

You need to understand how concrete works there is a large size stone gelly in between voids river sand is filled and in those voids portland cement fits in and forms bonds. Flyash when mixed provides one more finer filler material for the aggregate formed.

[dash]

Posting here since there was some dicussion on MUDA site on this thread.

Wanted to know if any of our TeamBHPians applied for MUDA site allotment and got back the deposit. I had applied in sometime in 2008 and yet to get back the deposit. Obviously I have no hopes of getting a site alloted, hence want to take the Rs. 1L deposit atleast. Please let me know if any one knows the process to do so.

TIA,
Raghu

[pkulkarni.2106]

Folks, here is a haunting question.
I had booked a flat in Pune in Feb 2016, possession of which is due in March 2019. As of now, the property is under construction. I had done the registration of the said property somewhere in June 2016, and paid 1% VAT at that time.
Now from 1st July 2017, GST came in effect.
While going through what it was, I learnt that I should get “Input Tax Credit” on each demand (or installment), which I’m getting without any hassle. But I had also read that I should get rebate on VAT which I’ve paid.
Today when I visited the builder’s office, I asked this question that it’s been considerable amount of time since GST came in effect. Why I didn’t get rebate on VAT? The lady responsible there couldn’t answer my question and later got back to me with a weird answer.
As per her, they’re giving me “discount” on each demand. The so called “discount” is in the form of “Input Tax Credit”, and I should consider that as a rebate for VAT.
So folks, that got me worried. Am I missing anything here?
If I’ve already paid the VAT, shouldn’t I get it back? (or at least shouldn’t the amount be adjusted in GST?)
Guys please let me know if my understanding of GST, Input Tax Credit and VAT is wrong.

[dailydriver]

RERA Karnataka has, on its website, published the list of projects that are either unregistered or are under investigation for various reasons. Though the primary focus is on Bengaluru, the site lists projects from Mysuru, Belagavi, Hubli and Mangalore too. Hope it will be of some help to purchasers.

[Haque]

Originally Posted by dailydriver

RERA Karnataka has, on its website, published the list of projects that are either unregistered or are under investigation for various reasons. Though the primary focus is on Bengaluru, the site lists projects from Mysuru, Belagavi, Hubli and Mangalore too. Hope it will be of some help to purchasers.

Any idea of what it means for a project to be listed under this list for investigation??

[dailydriver]

Originally Posted by Haque

Any idea of what it means for a project to be listed under this list for investigation??

That I am not aware of. But one can safely assume that in the absence of RERA registration, projects may face hurdles in getting the requisite permissions from the Government agencies. Also, buyers may be deprived of their rights as listed under the Act. Better safe than sorry .

[NPV]

Originally Posted by dailydriver

Hope it will be of some help to purchasers.

Heard from someone I know that one of the layouts listed is where he has been living since 2008 and almost all sites in the layout have houses built on them with all relevant paperwork and even paying property taxes each year!
What are they doing retrospectively to such projects ??

[dailydriver]

Originally Posted by NPV

...with all relevant paperwork and even paying property taxes each year!

Same was the case with a few other layouts where houses were demolished because they had apparently encroached upon storm water drains. Taxes were paid, water and electricity were being supplied and residents had their title deeds registered long back. Yet the Government, which itself had facilitated the formation of sites and construction of houses, went ahead with the demolitions.

Example

Although the RERA list might not be of immediate use to the current owners, prospective buyers can always exercise caution.

[AltoLXI]

Originally Posted by dailydriver

Taxes were paid, water and electricity were being supplied and residents had their title deeds registered long back. Yet the Government, which itself had facilitated the formation of sites and construction of houses, went ahead with the demolitions.

Legal experts repeatedly tell this to people:

1. Having BESCOM and Cauvery water supply does not mean the property is legal. They are utility providers - period. If one does not pay the bill, they disconnect the supply. The connection provided does not confer any rights or titles.

2. "A" Khata also does not confer any title. Any deviations or illegalities, the property is fit for demolition. Khata is meant for tax purpose. It is not a certificate showing the building has no illegalities. BBMP needs tax money for its functioning. Also there is no concept of "B" khata. Link

3. Banks approving loans does not mean a thing. Banks and builders in collusion often fool people to take loan. The banks also make sure the borrower pays back the loan whether the house is intact or demolished. Some banks also make borrower sign the indemnity - if there is illegality and building is demolished / taken over by Government, the borrower will still pay back all the loans.

4. Sale deed is registered does not mean the property is free of litigation !!! The sub registrar will register no matter what.

Caveat emptor !!!

[amitk26]

Originally Posted by AltoLXI

Legal experts repeatedly tell this to people:

1. Having BESCOM and Cauvery water supply does not mean the property is legal. They are utility providers - period. If one does not pay the bill, they disconnect the supply. The connection provided does not confer any rights or titles.

2. "A" Khata also does not confer any title. Any deviations or illegalities, the property is fit for demolition. Khata is meant for tax purpose. It is not a certificate showing the building has no illegalities. BBMP needs tax money for its functioning. Also there is no concept of "B" khata. Link


4. Sale deed is registered does not mean the property is free of litigation !!! The sub registrar will register no matter what.

Caveat emptor !!!

You are right specifically in Bangalore government can make something fully legal as illegal out of the blue any day.

Example there were 8 CMC ( City muncipal corporations) around Bangalore. These were small peaceful towns example Whitefield area was under Mahadevpura CMC.
CMCs had their own norm for layout approvals which demanded 30-40 % open area and the width or road was in line with small towns. Since the tax money was with CMC they were able to spend it in infrastructure of CMC itself. You will see few existing old banglows from 80s and 90s in whitefield are very well designed

In it's greed to extort tax money and extend control government suddenly extended jurisdiction of BBMP / BDA to these 8 CMCs in 2004 and all the layouts approved by CMCs became unapproved /illegal overnight. People who purchased sites in transition time that is in 2003 were worst hit as they purchased and registered fully legal site but suddenly one fine day they got to know that Khata transfer can not be done as layout is not approved by BDA / BBMP.
The tax money from erstwhile CMC started coming to BBMP and BBMP can spend it where ever the vote banks exists not necessarily in the same CMC area from which it collected tax.

In the layouts where sites were not sold developers went to BBMP and got approval by offering prasad to various deities however in any layout where half the sites were sold to individuals this was not possible as they already had CMC khata which got carried forward to BBMP so do not care about paying for rest of the folks who were stuck in transition.

There are so many row houses /villa projects from big name builders which are extremely cramped look like LIG row housing scheme for economically weaker sections but sell in crores just because they got BBMP approval. Just next to these so called row houses of big builder you can find well managed layouts with trees , rainwater harvesting , open areas and everything self managed by community but illegal because someone at a stroke of pen made it illegal. However BBMP did not given up greed for tax and came out with a solution called B Khata in 2008 by which they will collect the tax but will not make it legal with A khata.

If you see carefully this is a big scam to artificially limit supply of the legal land and keep it in few hands to keep prices high and also keep a sword hanging to extort money time to time from individual house owners.

One of the BBMP guy told me that around 70% of sites in Whitefield , Kundalhalli areas are B Khata.

My advice if you have to live peacefully at affordable price in independent house make sure that building is not on Rajakaluve ( Storme water drain) or lake bed and in that case B khata at good location also makes sense.

The greed of political class did not stop by just creating A - B khata mess . Couple of years back they renamed Ramnagara distracted to Bangalore rural district to "enhance" brand value of real estate and jack up prices for gullible investors. This enhanced brand value was stated objective in official government communication.

Should governments /local bodies work towards enhancing real estate values and jacking up price or providing amenities and better livability ?

Additional Info :

Even if you have sale deed , A Khata , OC and proper EC with no encumbercement and building is not encroaching any storm water drain or lake-bed it still does not mean the building or site will be legal.

For example AAI stipulates that not more than 4 floors ( or maximum height in meters which I cant recall right now) can be constructed in vicinity of 4KM radius from any airport. So apartments of some very big name builders in costly locations such as Airport road , Domlur , Indiranagar , Belandur , Marthahalli etc are illegal. They can face situation similar to campa cola compound in Mumbai any given day. There are 10 -12 floor tech parks directly over looking sensitive defense establishments in CV Raman Nagar , Old Airport area but fully legal as they are built by politically connected people.

There are some 14 -20 approvals from various bodies such as AAI , Fire , PCB , Land Conversion etc. and if I have to quote from movie Anand " Babu Moshay hum sab to kathputliya hain kaun kab kahan dori kheench de kuch nahi pata"

[AltoLXI]

Originally Posted by amitk26

My advice if you have to live peacefully at affordable price in independent house make sure that building is not on Rajakaluve ( Storme water drain) or lake bed and in that case B khata at good location also makes sense.

... as of now . God knows what else will Govt. come up with whenever they need money. And then these rules are meant only for mere mortals. Politically well connected people can flout all rules and build wherever they want and the Govt. will always look the other way. A prominent builder has built an apartment bang on Rajakaluve and last year BBMP came with bulldozers and started demolishing the compound. People from apartment and a few local politicians got together and stopped the demolition. Now it is all forgotten. Now when the rains drown the whole of the city, it is the same people who cry hoarse that Govt. is not doing enough to build the drainages. So who is to blame now - Govt officials who allowed the structures to come up in first place, builders or buyers (who knowingly bought these apartments in the first place fully aware that they are illegal)

Originally Posted by amitk26

Even if you have sale deed , A Khata , OC and proper EC with no encumbercement and building is not encroaching any storm water drain or lake-bed it still does not mean the building or site will be legal.
"

Rightly said. The Govt. can any day prove 1 = 2 and prove you are wrong.

Reminds me of the story:

Once a wolf was drinking water at the head of the stream. All of a sudden, he saw a little lamb drinking water at a distance downstream.

On seeing the lamb, the wolf licked his chops and decided to eat it up. So, he walked towards the lamb. While going, he kept thinking of some excuse for his action. Getting near the lamb, he looked at it with blood-shot eyes and thundered, "How dare you spoil the water for me?"

Trembling in fear, the lamb replied, "How can I do that, sir? The water is flowing from you to me."

The wolf had no words to say. Then he again thought of something and suddenly burst out, "Why did you abuse me last year?"

Meekly, the lamb retorted, "How is it possible, sir? I was not even born at that time."

"Well if it wasn't you, it must have been your mother." Saying this, he attacked the lamb and tore it into pieces.
The wolf already decided to eat the lamb and he was just giving excuses to kill it.

There is a proverb in Kannada : ಹುಚ್ಚ ಮುಂಡೆ ಮದುವೆಯಲ್ಲಿ ಉಂಡವನೇ ಜಾಣ meaning "A widow’s wedding, that too if she is insane, is highly improbable. Only a smart person can manage to find such a wedding and even enjoy a meal there." The whole system is behaving like this.

[dozer]

Originally Posted by dailydriver

RERA Karnataka has, on its website, published the list of projects that are either unregistered or are under investigation for various reasons. Though the primary focus is on Bengaluru, the site lists projects from Mysuru, Belagavi, Hubli and Mangalore too. Hope it will be of some help to purchasers.

There are quite a few Purva/purvankara apartments in that list. I wonder if there are other reputed builders.

[AltoLXI]

An interesting and sane bit of advice from Dhirendra Kumar on how to actually buy a house:

The only problem is that real estate cheerleaders-which include builders, dealers, and the media, which is beholden to real estate advertising revenues-are fully dedicated to convincing you that none of this is happening or if it is, then a huge revival is just around the corner.

One, buy just one house which will actually save you rent. Do not even think of buying any more just for investment.

Two, and this is the most important rule-don't stretch yourself. No matter how much you'd love a fancy house and how beautiful the ads and the brochures are, the EMI should not be more than one third of your family income. That's the UPPER limit. If you can get by at a lower level, then please do so. Basically, don't buy a house of your dreams. I know that the whole thrust of real estate marketing is this 'house of your dreams' concept, but that's a really bad way to make a sensible choice.

Three, I hardly need to point out that there's a huge difference between a house and a promise of a house. Completion of projects is at a premium today. This is unfortunate, but is a side-effect of the way real estate developers have gotten away with fraudulent behaviour. So, buy something that you can live in, rather than a mere plan and a promise.