News reports of real estate nowadays is making me religious. The reports about Supertech Twin Tower demolition is giving me “SPIRITUAL” feeling. If these media reports are to be believed, henceforth all the government officials will be careful in sanctioning the building plans, builders will be fearful with the law and the judiciary will be trusted as more pro-active than reactive. Isn’t it a proverbial “Ram Rajya” for the home buyers?
Of course, it is! But this “Ram Rajya” is conditional; with the applied T&C (Terms & Conditions) being that you would neither question the industry sponsored media reports nor try to get to the bottom of everything yourself. Reverence to the almighty (read builders) is the first condition of this industry narrative of spiritualism.
On questioning this industry narrative of Ram Rajya, a fellow panelist at a TV debate even confronted me with saying that these violations are pre-RERA realities. The market has changed a lot in post-RERA world. Really? I wonder where. Are we talking about the same market or some other part of the world? The narrative without facts is a con job and the real estate developers and their flying monkeys are adept at it.
Recklessness than caution is the defining principle for the builders in this part of the world. Any one-off landmark judgment is not going to change the ground realities of the arguably dirtiest business where the very foundations of the business is to park money of those vested interests who are supposed to clean the mess.
Supertech Twin Tower demolition is not the first such landmark judgment that has been shaping the industry narrative that moving forward the system is worth the trust. In 2014, when the Competition Commission of India had slapped the industry biggie DLF with INR 630 crore fine then also the sponsored chorus had been the same – now the builders will behave responsibly.
Much water has flown since then but the character and integrity of the builder has only deteriorated and not improved. It is not about one or two defaulters but the eco system that supports the perpetrators and definitely not the victim home buyers. If the C-SAT score of Indian real estate (as per Track2Realty survey) was 20 (out of 100) in 2011, it has now slipped to 18. All the supposedly reforms like RERA, GST, Benami Transactions and demonetisation etc are reforms only on paper. Nothing has changed on ground for the hapless home buyers.
The policy interventions have only smartened the builders in dodging the bullet. For example, one of the builders in Greater Noida West is forcing the buyers to sign an advance consent that the builder is free to make any future changes in the FAR & Lay Out. Any resistance on part of the homebuyers is silenced with builder’s wrath and the two-third (needed to vet it) succumb before the mighty builder. One aggrieved home buyer who approached the consumer commission against unfair contract is running from pillar to post for speedy justice.
Another builder that I know clearly threatens the buyers that if they dare to approach RERA against any delay or default he will make life miserable by delaying the possession of dream home for years with multiple counter litigations. After all, salaried home buyers with both rent and the EMI on their head can’t challenge the builder in a lengthy and costly litigation. This has been a question that even the Apex Court pointed out in its judgment against Supertech Twin Towers. The Court could nevertheless not answer the question of lengthy and costly litigation to set a precedent of speedy justice for the home buyers.
I met a harassed home buyer who wanted to sell his under-construction apartment due to health emergency at home. The builder refused transfer and asserted to buy back only at the same rate that he sold some four years back. So, all the appreciation benefits goes to the builder but the interest burden is the liability of the buyer. The exploitation doesn’t end here. Once the apartment was bought back, the buyer with critical health emergency at home was asked to wait for refund till the builder sells off the same unit to someone else. You are trapped in the builder’s crafty net man.
You buy a toothpaste for INR 50 and can criticise it on the social media. But you can’t criticise a house worth at least INR 50 lakh that is your life’s costliest purchase. If you dare to do so, your possession is denied with blank statement of the builder, “our legal team is looking into your issue; it is a case of defamation.” One builder has it in its Builder Buyer Agreement that anything not liked by the buyers has to be settled through arbitrator and the buyer ceases to have any right to write on the social media. Who will be the arbitrator, if the project is delayed or falls short of the buyers’ expectations? It will be appointed by the company (builder) only.
As a real estate analyst and also a harassed home buyer, I get such horrible stories about the plight of poor home buyers. And then there is industry narrative that the landmark judgment would revolutionise and reform the murky world of Indian real estate.
I continue to wonder when and where have the wave of reforms swept the business of real estate in this part of the world. All the news reports of new era of reformed real estate eco system only reminds me of some spiritual gathering where lots of spiritual cleansing is advocated & vowed but everyone is then back to one’s own murky world of real life.
A home buyer is trapped in the builder’s cruel & crafty net the moment he pays the token amount. Then onwards he has no choice but to succumb and builder gets away with whatever level of exploitation he wishes to, depending upon his own brand awareness, forget conscience. The moral high ground (no parallel word please) of the builders in a market where a large universe has failed to deliver is that at least I am giving you home while others are not even considering that. The wishful narrative of one-off incident of buyers’ legal victory can’t conceal the murky reality of the world of real estate in India. The appropriate adage of Indian real estate is “Wise men build houses, fools buy it.”
Ravi Sinha
#RaviTrack2Media
Track2Realty is an independent media group managed by a consortium of journalists. Starting as the first e-newspaper in the Indian real estate sector in 2011, the group has today evolved as a think-tank on the sector with specialized research reports and rating & ranking. We are editorially independent and free from commercial bias and/or influenced by investors or shareholders. Our editorial team has no clash of interest in practicing high quality journalism that is free, frank & fearless.
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