Developers Adopt Transparency While Selling Their Projects

Bangalore: To gain home buyers’ confidence, developers and builders are mulling over to inculcate transparent practices to sell their projects. Lalit Kumar Jain, the president of Confederation of Real Estate Developers' Association of India (CREDAI), stated that,  developers and builders who are CREDAI members,  have decided to reveal built-up area of apartments along with the super area to home buyers, reports Prabhakar SinhaPrabhakar Sinha of TNN.

The built-up area and super area are the common terms in Indian real estate context. The built-up area of an apartment incorporates its carpet area, i.e. the area covered by the walls sometimes the area covered by balcony, also comes within the built-up area. And, Super area includes the areas that are taken up by common spaces like staircase, lobby, lifts, corridors etc. Usually, built-up area is at least 20 percent lesser than the super area.

Manoj Gaur, the MD of Gaursons, member of CREDAI, NCR chapter stated that his firm has firmly decided to sell apartments in their newly launched Gaur Cascades project in Ghaziabad, on the basis of built-up area and not on super area, which has been a practice of the company untill now. He further added that the company would maintain the same principle in their future projects as well.

Anuj Goel, the Executive Director of KDP Infrastructure, on this note stated that the ratio of built-up area and super area differs with each project, which depends on the facilities and luxuries that offered. He also said that along with built-up area and super area, the builders should reveal the carpet area as well, which would give buyers the exact idea which are included in the flat space.

Goel further added that "The crux of the problem for a customer is that while purchasing a home, this price mechanism should be kept in mind, so that he can compare the price variations with different builders,” reports Economic Times.

On this context, Jain stated that the code of conduct makes it compulsory that a member should mention both the super area and the built-up area of a unit, in builder-buyer agreement. Moreover, a builder is expected to provide a copy of autoCAD drawings to customers to verify the built-up area unit as and when demanded. However, the developers can still sell their projects on the basis of super area, only if he is transparent about the built-up area.

Furthermore, to practice self-discipline and self-administration, all the members of CREDAI should sign the code of conduct. If any customer is unsatisfied and bears any problems then they can file complaint to CREDAI, which may cancel the membership of developers if found guilty, said Jain.

Additionally, CREDAI is preparing to set up a campaign to announce that if a customer purchases apartment from a developer who is a member of CREDAI, then the buyer’s interest would be better protected. Manoj Gaur says, "Being CREDAI members, we will start bookings after approval of the building plans and start construction on the site to ensure timely delivery of projects,” reports Economic Times.

Gaurav Gupta, the director of SG Estate, who supports the idea, stated that his company is all set to accept the norms suggested by CREDAI.  He said that when it comes to prospective buyers, builders should quote ‘all inclusive prices’, apart from government levy charges, if any. Also, in project delay situation, the buyers should have the option to move out from the project and amount should be refunded to the buyers with interest, at a precise rate.

Rajesh Goyal, the managing director of RG Group, while supporting the decision stated that his group would also adopt these practices and the industry has to inculcate transparency to build a good relationship with the stakeholders.