3 Rules to Follow Before Buying an Apartment

• 13 July 2016 | 997 Views | By Mint2Save

Recently, Supertech, India’s leading real estate developer has been ordered by the authorities to seal their 1099 flats in Noida as they violate the construction norms.

Recently, several authorities have also sealed 340 flats as the builder didn’t have the permission to construct such flats.

Another news that surfaced around jaipur was a premium that the residents of the apartments had to pay secure a necessity like water. 

A number of government banks have declined to finance any flat, if it is constructed as a part of a Ground + 2 Floor Scheme (G+2).

A very high number of cases are pending with the court where the buyers haven’t been allotted the flat on the date in the contract and they are forced to repay the EMI.

Flat based housing is getting immensely popular as one can get to access to world class amenities, securities, maintenance etc. .Interestingly housing loans for purchase of flats are arguably, most disputed loans. From tier 1 to tier 3 cities, there is a plethora of real estate developers who are sky scraping a lot of residential projects. With attractive designs, large space and presence of facilities like parking, 24 hour guard, electricity maintenance etc., the apartment lifestyle is on a straight rise these days.

This complex housing system, being popularised as one of the needs of the modern lifestyle, is constantly facing issues over legal, construction and other issues.

In this brief write up, we are going to discuss upon the facts where extra vigilance is to be kept in case you are going to invest an apartment. These tips would be handy not only while approaching a Bank for loan, but also to shortlist from a number of apartments.

Legal Issues

It is a general rule, that if the developer carries a good name and apartments are well marketed, they tend to get sold even before the work has completed (or it has even started). In these cases, the developer approaches a bank with the legal formalities and a master valuation of all sorts of flats. The bank, then, approves satisfying on the legal, valuation, construction plans, current status of construction. After the project gets approved, it becomes quite easy to approach that bank for approval. Most banks, then get actively involved in the marketing of home loans for that project and often a board mentioning  “Approved by XYZ BANK” is hung at the construction site.

Not all these projects are approved, and a number of financiers (especially private banks and BBC’s) finance housing in these legally imperfect. It is recommended that the project gets approved at least one of the public sector banks or old banks, who have a thorough legal inspection system. Post that, you can avail the loan from any financial institution as per your choice.

Construction

Always make sure that the proposed construction or constructed apartment has been approved by competent authorities and the developer has provided access to all the basic amenities like electricity, water, sewage etc. A lot of cases, included the Supertech one mentioned above, have happened, where huge skyscrapers have been sealed due to construction rules violation.

Payment Terms in the Sale Agreement

When an apartment building is under construction, the payment is made in stages and not at once. When supported by a deadline towards completion of work, these payment terms are more supported and the buyer can protect his money in the cases of delay. With the deadline mentioned in the agreement, buyer gets an assurance of not overpaying and neither his funds are blocked when the apartment is not ready to be shifted on time.

These three tips do not consider the construction quality, luxurious amenities etc. as we tend to discuss only those critical aspects which can restrict your peace of mind when you purchase an apartment. Also, if a builder satisfied on all these three terms, it is more of an obvious fact that he has given ample amount of time and hard work to make sure that the accommodation is worth all the money you are shelling and there is no trade off.