Land Act: Builders play the blame game
The word ‘affordability’ has totally changed as apartment prices in Bangalore witness a staggering increase of 60-100%, beyond the reach of a common man. In regard to an end-user, the rising apartment prices are completely unreasonable and affordability seems to be far away from it. One of the key reasons for the sudden rise in price is the restricted supply of clear land that does not have clear titles and encumbrances. Certain key developers and builders held the 52 year old karnataka Land Reforms Act responsible for it.
Section 79 A & B of the Karnataka Land Reforms Act 1961
According to the Section 79 A and B of the Land Reforms Act 1961, the non-agricultural income of a buyer (who should be an agriculturist) must not surpass Rs 2 Lakh per year. In addition to the norm, the agricultural land should not be used for other purposes other than agriculture. The rule strictly prohibits non-agriculturists like developers and buildersfrom possessing lands that are reserved under the BMRDA and BDA in Bangalore. With time, the market has become extremely volatile because of increasing cost, as such developers do not find lands for development. With government’s aid, offering affordable housing will become next to impossible in days to come.
Market Insight
According to market sources, many apartment projects in the city are being done on agricultural land that does not fall under the Green Belt. The Land reforms Act permit such lands to get converted for various non-agricultural purposes.Such agricultural purposes include industrial, residential or commercial uses. Relaxing of the Karnataka Land Reforms Act will be of great help for the developers along with the consumers and the government. The developers will have the advantage of skipping out on the litigations which arise from the intermediate stage of the ‘agreement sell’ and directly arrive at the sale deed stage. The availability of affordable homes will benefit consumers and the government and the revenue collected from registrations and stamps will escalate when the demand increases.
