SELL CARPET AREA OR GO TO PRISON
Builders who refuse to sell flats on the basis of carpet area will face up to 3 years of imprisonment, according to an amendment to housing Act tabled by state govt …
RAVIKIRAN DESHMUKH
Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh desperately wants the state legislature to pass an amendment to The Maharashtra Ownership Flats (Regulation of the promotion of construction, sale, management and transfer) Act, 1963 that will send builders who refuse to sell flats on the basis of carpet area to jail for three years.
The amendment was introduced in the House on Friday and the CM wants the House to pass the amendment in the ongoing budget session so he can fulfil a promise made to Mumbaikars while announcing the draft housing policy in November 2006 that made it mandatory for builders to sell ONLY by carpet area.
This provision was introduced in the policy specifically because consumers have repeatedly complained of being cheated as various builders confuse them by using different parameters – carpet area, built-up area and super built-up area – to describe the size of flats.
But this provision could not be enforced as the House is yet to pass the amendments to The Maharashtra Ownership Flats (Regulation of the promotion of construction, sale, management and transfer) Act, 1963 that will give teeth to the new housing policy.
The CM while announcing the New Housing Policy had insisted on sale based on carpet area based sale. According to him, flat purchasers are often unable to understand exactly the difference between Carpet Area, Built-up Area and Super Built-up Area of a flat.
To end this confusion, he introduced an amendment to Section 3 (2) of The Maharashtra Ownership Flats (Regulation of the promotion of construction, sale, management and transfer) Act and placed it before the House on Friday. The amendment says the sale will be the basis of Carpet Area only and the builder/promoter can charge for the common areas and facilities in proportion to the carpet area of the flat.
To remove any ambiguity it has been clarified that the flat shall include the area of the balcony of such flat.
For any violation of the section 3, the Act suggests three year imprisonment to the builder/promoter. Such punishments have been suggested in the section 13 (A) of the Act.
AREA FUNDAS
Carpet Area:
AREA FUNDAS
Carpet Area:
Internal area of a flat. It’s the wall-to-wall area of the flat.
Built-up Area:
It covers walls and balcony also.
Super Built-up Area:
It includes lobby, passage, elevators, fire fighting area along with the total utility. In other words, it covers common areas too. Sometimes, even the garden is included.