Month: August 2023

In a bid to catch tax evaders, the municipal corporation (MC) has started scrutinising property tax returns filed by various malls in the city. The exercise has been initiated from the zone-D, and the officials also inspected a mall on Ferozepur Road in this regard on Tuesday. Zonal commissioner Jasdev Singh Sekhon said the inspection drive was started on the directions of MC commissioner Sandeep Rishi . He shared that property tax is filed on self-assessment basis, and tax returns of malls are filed under rental category, for which tax is charged at the rate of 7.5% of the annual rent received from the building.

Sekhon said that managements of most of the malls have been paying the tax on time to avail 10% rebate. The inspections are being conducted to ensure that the tax is being filed in accordance with the regulations. If any anomalies are found, action will be taken, and up to 100% penalty could be imposed against defaulters, he said.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday said the government will soon launch a scheme to provide relief in interest of bank loans to those dreaming of their own house in cities. Addressing the nation on the 77th Independence Day, Modi said his government will soon launch the scheme for middle-class families who live in cities but do not own a house. The prime minister said that poor people living in cities without a house face difficulties.

Middle-class families are dreaming of their own house in cities. We will soon launch a scheme for them.

We have decided to give relief in bank loan interest by providing a help of lakhs of rupees to families living in rented houses, unauthorised colonies and shanties in cities, to build their own house,” Modi said from the ramparts of the Red Fort.

There is already a housing scheme — Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana Urban (PMAY-U) — for the urban poor.

The prime minister launched the PMAY-U on June 25, 2015, to provide pucca houses with basic amenities to all eligible urban beneficiaries across the country.

According to the Union Housing and Urban Affairs Ministry, 118.90 lakh houses have been sanctioned as on July 31, 2023, based on the project proposals submitted by states and Union territories. Of the sanctioned houses, 76.02 lakh units have been completed or delivered to beneficiaries. The scheme is implemented through four verticals — beneficiary-led construction, affordable housing in partnership, in-situ slum redevelopment and credit-linked subsidy scheme — based on eligibility criteria.

The ministry considered all the proposals forwarded by the states and Union territories. According to officials, the period of PMAY-U, which was up to March 31, 2022, has been extended till December 31, 2024 (except for the credit-linked subsidy scheme vertical) for completion of all houses sanctioned till March 31, 2022, without changing funding pattern and implementation methodology of the scheme.

The Central government provides its fixed share of Rs 1 lakh under the in-situ slum redevelopment vertical of PMAY-U and Rs 1.5 lakh under the affordable housing in partnership and beneficiary-led construction verticals of the scheme. Advt Under the credit-linked subsidy scheme vertical vertical of PMAY-U, an interest subsidy at the rate of 6.5 per cent, which amounted up to Rs 2.67 lakh per house, used to be provided for beneficiaries of the economically weaker section and low-income group categories.

KRERA has made it compulsory for real estate promoters, banks, and other parties to deposit the money obtained by pledging the housing project land into the RERA project designated account. The borrowed amount must be used by the promoters to develop the same housing project, as per KRERA’s notification.

According to a notification dated July 19, the KRERA emphasized the submission of Form 4 (Chartered Accountant Certificate) and Form 7 (Audit accounts of the project) by a chartered accountant annually.

The notification highlighted that some real estate project promoters were borrowing money from banks and financial institutions by mortgaging the project land and apartments/units of the housing project.

KRERA stated in the notification, “In some cases, the money borrowed by mortgaging the project land and units is not utilized for the project. The details provided by the promoter and certificates reveal that the total amount realized from allottees and borrowed money is not fully utilized for land and construction.”

To protect the interests of promoters, projects, buyers (allottees), and lenders, the KRERA directed promoters to deposit the borrowed amount into the designated account of the project and use or withdraw it only for the respective project’s development.

The notification also stressed that promoters must bifurcate and allocate the amount to various phases and report it during quarterly updates, along with bank statements or Chartered Accountant Certificates, if borrowing money phase-wise for the registered project.

“The lenders, financial institutions, and bankers shall also ensure to disburse such loans only to the designated RERA account of the project. Such designated RERA account details are published and available on the KRERA website for each registered RERA project,’’ it stated.

Many home buyers have welcomed the KRERA notification and want it to enforce it for the welfare of home buyers.

“I welcome the KRERA notification. I am not sure whether the Bangalore Development Authority (BDA) is following this norm. I want the BDA to have a RERA designated account for the completion of all ongoing developmental works at Nadaprabhu Kempegowda Layout,’’ said N Sridhar, Nadaprabhu Kempegowda Layout Open Forum president.

Appreciating the KRERA for issuing the notification, Devaraju N, president, Krishnappa Garden Residents’ Welfare Association, has said that it will be a great help for home buyers. “The notification issued by the KRERA will benefit home buyers who are worried about the completion of housing projects where they bought flats,’’ said Devaraju.

However, Karnataka Home Buyers Forum Sanchalak Dhananjaya Padmanabhachar said that it is good to see RERA Karnataka is trying to bring in more transparency by ensuring promoters deposit the mortgaged money into designated accounts and promoters should utilize the money for the development of the project.

He said that as per Section 11 (4) (h) of RERA 2016, the promoters after they execute agreements for sale, cannot mortgage the property. “We are assuming the order of RERA is applicable before the promoter signs agreements with home buyers. We are seeing many builders mortgaging the property after they execute agreements for sale. The RERA Authority must clarify this to ensure home buyers interest is protected. The root cause why promoters continue to mortgage the property is because of the reason that the property never gets transferred to the association of allottees as per Section 17 of RERA,’’ he said.