Look before you buy

Apartment culture has tremendous acceptance by people in most metros. Shalimar Apartments, built in the early Seventies was probably the first apartment that was constructed in Bangalore.

Thereafter, in the early Eighties, several apartment buildings were built in Malleswaram and other places.

Since then, construction of apartments is in full swing in Bangalore and in other metros and a large number of reputed builders and promoters are engaged in the execution of different apartment projects in and around Bangalore to meet the demand for commercial and residential apartments.

Buying an apartment?

As in the case of purchase of any other property, verification of ownership title is one of the pre-requisites for purchase of an apartment.

Though the builder of apartments provides legal opinion given by his advocate regarding subsistence of marketable and valid title of his vendors, it is always better that the intending purchaser may get the title report of the property scrutinised from an advocate of his choice having vast knowledge and experience in property dealings.

A legal scrutiny report

The legal scrutiny report shall contain detailed information regarding the origin, flow of title, present status of the owner, validity of the GPA, Joint Venture, if any, entered into between the owner and the developer.

Apart from these, the background and  history of the developer also needs to be considered before finalising any deal for purchase of an apartment.

It is always advisable to visit some of the already executed  projects of the developer and not to be carried away by the glossy advertisements and tall claims of the developer.

There are several instances wherein the apartments purchased are inflicted with certain latent defects which remain unattended by the developer when once the sale transaction is concluded,  pushing the purchaser to suffer both in terms of comfort and finance.

There are many reputed builders available in the market with impressive track records.

The prospective purchaser may choose any one of them to have a peaceful possession and enjoyment of apartment.

Has approval been obtained?

Another very important aspect which requires consideration is to ascertain whether the approval for construction of apartments and the plan has been obtained from the competent authority and to find out whether commencement and completion certificates have been issued by such  authority.

Further, before purchasing an apartment, the purchaser has to consider the location of the building because any building which has no proper access to main roads with insufficient public transport and other civic amenities such as water, electricity supply, proper sanitation, parks, market place, hospitals, schools, etc. would put the purchaser to a great inconvenience and would be a hurdle in its marketability in the secondary market. 

Merits of apartments

Apartments have certain advantages in comparison with independent houses. The first and foremost advantage is that the purchaser of an apartment  need not have to worry about obtaining plan sanctions, finding a building contractor, supervising the construction work, obtaining basic amenities such as water, power, sewerage facilities for the building and so on since these works are undertaken by the developers.

Similarly, the purchaser of an apartment need not worry about any civic problems which he may encounter after occupation of the apartment, since these problems are attended by the apartment owners’ association/developer for which a nominal fee is charged. 

Further, the residents of apartments have the advantage of  facilities like gym, health-club, recreational center, sports club, swimming pool, private security system within the premises, available at a nominal fee.

Demerits of apartments

General:  Even though living in apartment does have many advantages, they are not totally free from disadvantages.

A person who lives in an apartment generally is deprived of his privacy.

Further, the apartment owner is prevented from carrying out any major additions, alterations or modifications to his apartment. All such repairs, alterations and modifications are to be carried out with least inconvenience to other apartment owners only with the approval of the apartment owners association and if any damage or loss is caused to any part of the building the owner of such portion is to be compensated suitably.

(The second part of the series will focus on other demerits of buying apartments, and other legal aspects such as sale agreement, sale deed, registration of sale deed etc)

The writer is an advocate specialised in property matters.
He can contacted on 080-25530200 or 25526644 / 45. E-mail : [e-mail]