Completion Certificate mandatory for property registration: GDA

Ghaziabad: Developers in Ghaziabad can no more register the units in their housing projects in the name of homebuyers until they obtain completion certificate for the projects. The Ghaziabad Development Authority’s (GDA’s) advisory to the revenue department has made it mandatory to obtain a completion certificate for registering a property.

Earlier, several buyers ended up buying and registering unauthorised flats assuming that the registration ensured the legality of a property. Many such properties were sealed later by the GDA as they were in violation of the building rules. But hereafter, a developer can register flats in his project at the sub-registrar’€™s office only if he provides a copy of the completion certificate.

For instance, consider the case of Parsvnath Paradise in Ghaziabad. Residents have been living in the society from 2005, but the society has still not got a completion certificate. According to a mandatory provision in GDA’s building by-laws, a developer should obtain a completion certificate before he offers possession to homebuyers. As soon as the issue came into light, the Authority should have taken stringent action against the developer which did not happen. But in contrary, the homebuyers have been suffering for the unexplained leniency on the part of GDA.

The residents of the society are suffering for long since there are a number of issues in the society including power supply problem, water problem, poor sewage system, lack of security, etc. Sunit Sachar, senior vice president, Parsvnath Developers Limited, said that the society was constructed as per the sanctioned plan, got 95 percent completion certificate from the GDA after which the flats were handed over to the residents and moved out from there. He puts all the blame on the Authority and claims that he is not responsible for the mess.

Santosh Kumar Yadav, vice chairman of the GDA said that a completion certificate is now made mandatory for the sale-purchase registration of a flat in Ghaziabad. The civic body has taken several strict measures to prevent developers from handing over the flats without the certificate, he added.

Earlier there was lack of coordination between GDA and the electricity department, admits Yadav. The electricity department used to give power connections to apartments which did not have the document. But now the GDA has directed the electricity department not to give power supply to the defaulters which is expected to prevent giving possession without getting a Completion Certificate.

The civic authority is also planning to penalise all the errant developers who have sold unauthorised flats on a move to regularise the building violations in Ghaziabad. 

A provision in the Uttar Pradesh Apartment (Promotion of Construction, Ownership & Maintenance) Act, 2010, too states that “an apartment may be transferred by the promoter to any person only after obtaining the completion certificate from the prescribed sanctioned authority concerned as per building by-laws.” Though this Act was implemented around three years ago, many development authorities have failed to follow it.

The GDA’s move to curb these issues existing in real estate sector has been welcomed by all. However, the homebuyers opine that all such issues can only be resolved if the authority implements the apartment act in total and plugs all loopholes.

The Confederation of Real Estate Developers’€™ Associations of India (CREDAI) NCR also welcomed the “no completion, no registration” move of GDA and has made some suggestions in the interest of buyers as well as developers. CREDAI NCR president Mr. Anil Kumar Sharma, said that the GDA should speed up the process of issuing completion certificates.

The main issue is that in case there is any fault in the building plans, the GDA takes months and years to look into the matter. Whether the issue exists with the authority or the builder, whichever is the case, mostly buyers are the ultimate sufferers and they believe that it is developers’ mistake. The civic authorities has to impose a penalty on builder for the violation at the time of application for completion, collect the money and immediately grant completion, said Sharma.

However, the issue is not completely sorted. There are cases in which developers delay projects for various reasons despite getting completion certificate. Also, there have been cases of completion certificates being granted for builders’€™ apartments in which building plans have been violated. Even in some cases, the developers may not take the completion certificate and delay possession. In all these cases, any further delay leads to more suffering for the buyers. Despite all the planned efforts of the GDA, the issue is likely to continue. So the authority will have to look for better ways to overcome this.