The home fight: Major Causes of disputes in Real Estate

Land and property disputes are a common thing to see in this country. The local courts have a large pile of civil cases regarding property disputes spread across this country. Nobody knows how it’s caused or what the triggers are. But one thing is certain. The property disputes drills a deep hole in everyone’s pockets and time. They are quite complicated in nature and take years to resolve. Sometimes the benefactors of the case are the sons and grandsons. When it comes to mediating the case before it reaches court, the ego comes into play regarding the ownership turning every ounce of solution foul.

The government has come out with e-registration of the property to avoid long term conflicts which will have a temporary relief. Some of the important causes for property disputes are

- Incomplete information: Many of the facts are kept buried by the owner and this is sometimes a major disruptor in the conflicts. Some of the information like dues attached to the property which will be passed on to the buyer, tax payouts that are p0ending etc. will fuel the disputes

- Possession delay: The project being constructed can be delayed due to umpteen numbers of reasons like clearances, availability of raw materials, environmental issues etc… These affect the customers especially those who are staying in rented accommodation. They are forced to pay the EMI as well as their rents. This leads to a tricky situation for these trapped souls.

- Layout changes: Modifications in the original layout is another principle contributor of property disputes. This modification has to be approved by at least two thirds of the home buyers but many developers don’t follow through.

- Fraud: The most important perpetrator in civil cases. Those who cheat and do fraud are the number one reason for property disputes. They do false promises and won’t deliver on them. They might abscond and in extreme cases threaten the buyer. Therefore the buyer must check the developer’s credentials before investing.

- Brokerage issues: This usually happens with outstanding brokerage fee or nonpayment of dues. This is usually the case when proper agreements are not drafted.

A plausible solution to these is in the form of the governments real estate regulatory bill which is set to hold a tight leash on the industry and avoids malpractices.

Environment Vs Infrastructure: The headlong battle

For decades, rather for centuries now we have been facing the heat of choosing a right balance between environment and infrastructure. The sad truth is that infrastructure keeps on winning with a sweeping majority always. Nobody gives a two bit damn about, how the environment is affected. But it’s interesting to note that some of the major property developments have also been stalled because of environment issues. This is majorly due to the gray areas surrounding sustainable development policies set by the government.

A few examples to throw more light into the gravity of the situation is,

• EIL (Environment Interest Litigation) against the proposed Pune Metro because the National Green Tribunal (NGT) feels that some of the routes overtake the river beds causing silt damage.

• In NCR millions of apartments violate the sanctity of the Okhla Bird Sanctuary and this is achieved through a MoEF notification.

• The Thane Municipal Corporation has made a proposal which will destroy 26 hectares of pure green in Sanjay Gandhi National Park for a road.

Many like Vineet Relia, MD, SARE Homes feel that India is rushing up the infrastructure ladder and it’s a good thing. The sad part is many of the rushing ignores the environment. In his own words, “Are we really so short of habitable land in urban India that we need to compromise on stated policies?” Relia has shared his position and views on this matter.

Manju Yagnik, VS, Nahar Group shares a different response by throwing light onto the fact of rapid development especially after the Modi regime but has been done with a focus on the environment also. She feels that most projects are taken after considering a lot of variables and factors like financials, connectivity, convenience etc… and certainly environment also plays a major role.

Looking at the way forward we have to concentrate on two major things. Better planning and green technologies should be the focus. Starting from planning to execution of projects environmental impact needs to be measured. There is a Native American proverb, “The earth is not inherited from our ancestors, it’s borrowed from our children.” Every development should happen keeping this proverb in our mind.