The Tamil Nadu Real Estate Regulatory Authority (TNARA) has said that developers need to implement projects according to market demand, in an order that will allow promoters to adjust their plans for the upcoming steps in the real estate project to increase the number of residential units. The realty regulator dismissed a homebuyer complaint that he owns an apartment in a block, amending the developer’s move to increase the number of units and revise the initial planning permission.
This case is related to a gated community project called ‘Viva City’ at Kannivakkam near Guduvancheri, developed by XS Real Properties Pvt. According to complainants J Sethu Ragu Raman and D Satyaapriya, who bought the apartment in the project, the gated community is touted as a seven-block development with 352 units, while two and three BHK apartments have various common amenities ranging from 583 square feet to 1,084 square feet.
Under the DTCP plan approved in 2013, the 176 residential units were built and the revised plan permits the developer to increase the number of residential units to 571, an increase of 219 units, or more than 50%, for a new project, ‘En Veedu’, on the same premises. The complainant stated that it was illegal for the developer to obtain buyer’s consent before modifying the plan.
In response, the developer said that due to the recession and depressed market conditions, they could not proceed with the phased development as originally thought. With the center launching a PMAV scheme that will subsidize EMI on housing projects for first-time buyers in 2016, the developer, through a subsidiary, received revised approval for the existing two blocks and the latest approvals from DTCP in October 2017. The size of the apartments has been adjusted – measuring 60 square meters per residential unit – to make buyers eligible under the PMAY scheme. Homebuyers have given their consent to the changes in the undeveloped parts, and the developer said that the revised plan is in accordance with the rules of the DTCP registered with TNREA.
After hearing the claims, the developer completed the apartments three years ago and handed them over to the complainants, according to TNREA. The order stressed that real estate market conditions are dynamic and that apartments need to be built to meet the needs of the builder market, and the authority could not find fault with the developer’s decision to take advantage of the center’s scheme and go for a large number of smaller apartments. Affordable housing.
