BENGALURU: Offering a major relief to occupants of ‘L & T Realty Raintree Boulevard’ in Byatarayanapura, the Karnataka Real Estate Regulatory Authority (K-RERA) has ordered the promoter to put in place proper car parking facilities and hand over all common areas to the association. It has also ordered it to offer defect liability (guarantee) to the apartment owners for five years after the handover.
The residential project on Bellary Road developed by L & T Construction Equipment Limited (now known as L & T Realty Developers Limited) is registered with RERA and consists of 2242 flats spread across 25 acres. It comprises of hi-end Studio, 1 BHKs, 2BHK, 3BHK and 4 BHK flats. The prices range between Rs 80 lakh and Rs 2.5 crore depending on the dimensions.
The order was delivered on Saturday (Jan 20) by a full bench comprising Chairman H C Kishore Chandra and members Neelamani N Raju and Gurijala Ravindranadha Reddy in response to a complaint registered against L & T by the couple Arshi and Suhail Ahmed. Both are residents of Flat No 1302 here.
Ahmed said, “The project began in 2015-2016 and one phase was completed by 2019-2020. It has many phases and work is still going on. We were promised proper car parking facilities by the builder for a cost of Rs 5 lakh plus 12% GST between 50% and 60% of house owners have opted for it. However, the infrastructure was never created. We are following Tandem Parking here whereby one car is parked just behind another.”
He added, “RERA has directed the promoter to provide proper parking at the earliest or refund the amount collected from the home buyers. This is a much-needed relief for all of us.”
Another crucial direction from the Authority is the promoter has been ordered to hand over the common areas to an association of home buyers. “The builder should have taken on the role of an enabler and brought together home buyers to form it. However, that had been delayed enormously and the association was formed only in June 2023. We are yet to be handed over the common areas.”
Apartment owners protest against builder
Bengaluru: Nearly 200 residents of Mahendra Aarna apartment in Electronic City Phase-2 took to the streets on Monday morning to protest against the huge management fee of over Rs 8 lakh per month levied by their builder, Mahendra Homes Pvt Ltd, from January 2024. Holding placards and raising slogans, they alleged that the sudden fee imposed by the promoter without any intimation was to avenge their action of approaching K-RERA seeking justice. The apartment in Ananth Nagar comprises 752 flats and the owners were handed over the flat four years ago. Their common demand: The builder needs to hand over the entire project to their association and exit immediately. Speaking on behalf of the residents, Rohit Nair, president of Aarna Apartment Association, said, “For the last four years, we have been struggling for basic facilities. The builder is not ready to hand over the apartment to the elected association and maintains it in a pathetic condition. The maintenance charge of Rs 26 lakh levied each month is already unreasonable and so we filed a complaint with K-RERA.” ENS