Maharashtra govt reduces lease rent for housing societies and plot owners

Individual plot owners or those whose plot size is less than 5,000 sq ft, as well as housing societies, will now have to pay only 1% of 25% of the plot’s ready reckoner rate (RR rate)

MUMBAI: A section of lease holders of state governmentland can look forward to reduced annual lease rent. The state cabinet on Tuesday decided to cut annual lease rent for individual plot owners, housing societies, social, religious, and cultural organisations and also for orphanages and dharamshalas.

Individual plot owners or those whose plot size is less than 5,000 sq ft, as well as housing societies, will now have to pay only 1% of 25% of the plot’s ready reckoner rate (RR rate). For social, religious and cultural organisations, orphanages and dharamshalas, the annual lease rent has been reduced to only 0.5% of 25% of the plot’s RR rate.

The reduction follows a spate of public interest litigations filed in the Bombay high court after the state government introduced a new lease renewal policy in 2012. It increased the annual lease rent to 2% of 25% of a plot’s RR rates. “This was considered very high, especially since people were paying in hundreds and thousands and under the new policy, it went up to lakhs. It definitely was a huge jump. The court in 2015 directed the government to hold talks with the affected parties and find a middle path,” a senior revenue official said.

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SC stops construction in illegal Delhi colonies

A bench of Justice Madan B. Lokur and Justice Deepak Gupta asked the Centre to set up a Special Task Force for removing encroachments on public land and roads in Delhi

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Tuesday halted all construction in 1,797 unauthorised colonies in the national capital.

A bench of Justice Madan B. Lokur and Justice Deepak Gupta asked the Centre to set up a Special Task Force for removing encroachments on public land and roads in Delhi.

The bench also refused to vacate its stay on proposed amendments to the city's masterplan. The Development Authority had (DDA) appealed the court to vacate the stay.

"On the one hand you have authorised colonies which follow rules and by-laws. On the other hand you have unauthorised colonies which are not following rules and by-laws... Unauthorised colonies can't be placed in a better position than authorised colonies.

"We direct that construction should stop in unauthorised colonies till they follow by-laws," the bench said

The order came after taking into account the submissions of senior advocate Ranjit Kumar, who was assisting the court as amicus curiae, that by-laws do not apply to the illegal colonies and the construction was rampant there.

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Over three lakh houses constructed under PMAY-Gramin in Rajasthan

Under the scheme a grant of Rs 1.2 lakh have been credited to the account of the beneficiaries in three instalments

JAIPUR : Rajasthan has completed over 3 lakh houses under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (Rural) by April 18 this year. One of the flag ship schemes of the NDA government launched in April 2016 modifying the Indira Aawas Scheme, it intends to provide house to all by 2022. 

Sudarshan Sethi, additional chief secretary panchayati raj and rural development said, "Out of a target of 4.73 lakh houses in the last two years under the scheme, 3,03,000 lakh has been completed and the remaining houses were in the final stages of completion and expected to be completed by June this year."

Sethi said the rural development department has roped in IIT Delhi to design the houses suited to the agro-climatic conditions of the state. Accordingly the state has divided in to four zones, and seven designs were made for the beneficiaries to choose from. The beneficiaries are also free to make their own designs, he said. 

Under the scheme a grant of Rs 1.2 lakh have been credited to the account of the beneficiaries in three instalments. They are eligible for 90 days of manpower (unskilled) under NAREGA (Rs 16,290) apart from an additional grant of Rs 12,000 under Swach Bharat Mission for toilet. Thus the total amount available for the construction of the house is 1,48,290. The size of the house has to be 25 Sq metres including a kitchen. The beneficiaries could avail a loan of up to Rs 70,000 if needed. The construction of the house had to be completed within a year of its approval, he said. 

An important aspect of this scheme is apart from houses, the beneficiaries also eligible for other benefits like LPG connection under Ujjwala scheme, power connection, water connection, solar light system and tanks construction, and group housing facilities like concreate roads, drainage, tree plantation, etc.

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Land pooling by Hyderabad development body runs into assigned land hurdle

HMDA, which had carried out the Uppal Bhagat land pooling successfully, is also in the final stage of taking written consent from farmers and land owners in Pratapasingaram

HYDERABAD: The land poolingexercise undertaken by Hyderabad Metropolitan Development Authority(HMDA) at Dundigal and Boduppal (Medipally) has run into hurdles owing to the presence of assigned land, forcing HMDA to seek government's approval. The municipal administration and urban development department has already written to the revenue department, seeking advance possession of the assigned lands to HMDA so that it can go ahead with land pooling. 

HMDA, which had carried out the Uppal Bhagat land pooling successfully, is also in the final stage of taking written consent from farmers and land owners in Pratapasingaram. 

HMDA commissioner T Chiranjeevulu told TOI: "At Medipally, we are looking at 360 acres of land pooling and 520 acres at Dundigal. In both the areas, there are assigned lands. Though assignees have come forward, we have to get the nod of the state government." 

After striking consent agreements with land owners, HMDA is planning to develop roads and other amenities. The ratio of developed land sharing between HMDA and land owners will be based on current market value. Out of one acre of land (4,840 square yards) after roads and amenities are developed, land left for plotting will be 2,800 square yards. 

A senior official of HMDA told TOI, "Assignees cannot transfer or sell the land. Because of this, development has taken a back seat in these areas. So, they have come forward for land pooling with HMDA which will enable them get legal right to sell the plots after their development." It may be recalled the government issued guidelines for land pooling on December 7 last year. 

In Pratapasingaram, HMDA is working on over 160 acres. The commissioner held a meeting with the landowners who gave an oral consent for land pooling. HMDA is also working on land pooling at Bogaram near Keesara where land pooling for 200 acres is on the cards. HMDA has also identified Gourelli in Hayatnagnar mandal and Korremula in Ghatkesar mandal for land pooling.

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Existing buildings in ‘red zone’ also need to get NOC from AAI

As per the guidelines of ministry of civil aviation, a suitable mechanism needs to be adopted regarding the already existing structures within the mandatory NOC zone (red colour zone)

PIMPRI CHINCHWAD: The vicic body will regularise all illegal constructions built before December 2015 by April 30, similar constructions under Pimpri Chinchwad New Township Development Authority, will be regularized till May 15.

The urban development department had issued a notification in October last year under the Maharashtra Regional Town Planning Act for regularization of such constructions in residential, commercial and industrial zones. Owners will have to submit complete details of the construction, survey and sector numbers, approved by a licensed architect, to the PCNTDA. However, constructions in buffer zones, red zones, blue lines of rivers, on hill slopes, and dilapidated or structurally unsafe buildings will not be regularised. There are around 40,000 illegal constructions in PCMC limits and around 26,000 constructions under PCNTDA.

PCNTDA engineers will visit the sites and give in principal approval. If the built up area is 10 metres, margin on the sides will be 0.75 metres. A no objection certificate from fire brigade department would be required for buildings which are 36-metre high. For Gaothan areas, the road width would be 4.5 metres, and for other areas, six metres. A structural stability certificate will have to be submitted. Development charges, infrastructure charges and compounding charges will be levied till May 15. Owners in PCMC limits will have to submit Google images of the property along with details of property tax, sewerage tax, and penalty tax on illegal construction till April 30.

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ATS Group to invest Rs 2,000 crore to construct affordable homes

The fund will be raised from a mix of internal accruals, debt and private equity funds.

NEW DELHI: ATS Group, a National Capital Region (NCR)-based developer, plans to invest close to Rs 1,500- 2,000 crore for construction mid- income and affordable homes under a new entity ‘HomeKraft’.

The fund will be raised from a mix of internal accruals, debt and private equity funds. “We are in advance talks with a major PE firm to raise funds for HomeKraft in the next 2-3 months,” the company said in a release here on Wednesday.

Prasoon Chauhan has been appointed as the CEO of HomeKraft. Previously he has worked with ICICI Bank and Yes Bank.

The company is looking to clock sales of 6000-6500 units in the next 3-5 years with expected revenue in the range of Rs 4,000-5,000 crore.

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Maharashtra finally clears way for drop in stamp duty on real estate sale

The state revenue and forest department has issued the Bombay Stamp (Determination of True Market Value of Property) (1st Amendment) Rules, 2018 that will allow the CCRA for the first time to either increase or decrease the RR rates.

MUMBAI: Homebuyers could expect some relief as the state government has introduced a provision that will allow reduction of Ready Reckoner (RR) rates. Until now, RR rates, which are revised annually, could only be increased or kept steady.

RR rates are used to assess market value of properties by government; stamp duty and registration charges are paid on this basis. The rates are revised every year on April 1.

The state revenue and forest department has issued the Bombay Stamp (Determination of True Market Value of Property) (1st Amendment) Rules, 2018 that will allow the Chief Controlling Revenue Authority (CCRA) for the first time to either increase or decrease the RR rates.

The March 12 notification amends rule 4 that says in case the CCRA cannot issue an annual statement of rates then the preceding one may be “incremented” in view of “increase” in market rates. The word “incremented” has now been replaced with “revised” and “increase” with “increase or decrease”. The change in the wording signals the government’s acceptance of the fact that real estate rates have dipped in recent years.

Mumbai is divided into 700 zones for which RR rates are prepared annually. In the last five years, rates for these zones have been increased by 6-7% annually. However, it was not always so. In 1995, 1996, 1997 and 2001, the government, despite there being no amendment, had reduced the RR rates.

Commenting on the latest change in rules, property valuers said RR rates need to reflect true market value. Mayur Shah, president, Maharashtra Chamber of Housing Industry, said they have been urging the government to reduce the RR rates as the real estate industry has been in a bad shape for the past three-four years.

Shah said CREDAI-MCHI is considering recommending a 20-25% reduction in RR rates. “Earlier, rates were only increasing. Now that Maharashtra, like other states, has a provision to decrease the rates, housing will get a boost,” he said.

The increase or reduction in RR rates impacts buyers in a significant way as the 5% stamp duty is to be paid as per RR rates; in some cases, the actual sale may have taken place at a lower rate.

Sunit Gupta, a property valuation expert, said the RR rate for Nariman Point, for instance, is Rs 50,000 sq ft while the market rate is Rs 30-35,000 per sq ft. “Also, builder and buyer have to pay income tax based on the RR rates and not the market rate,” he said.

It is the joint director of town planning and valuation who annually assesses rates of lands and buildings for every tehsil, municipal corporation and local body area and prepares a statement. The CCRA then approves these rates and they come into force. 

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