Madras HC rules scheme proposed common area pertains to flat owners, not builders

The division bench ruled that any property built on that ‘common area’ will not belong to the builder, according to a report The New Indian Express,

In this judgment posted by the Bench of Madras High CourtThe nuances faced by flat owners have the potential to go away, with promoters constructing new buildings in the proposed common area, leading to hassles for those who have already bought a flat in the property.

The decision also brings to mind the illegal construction of the Supertech Twin Towers in Noida, which was to be demolished in August 2022 on the directions of the Supreme Court of India.

Madras High Court Disposed of a Writ Petition filed by Abbotsbury Owners Association, Alwarpet in Chennai in respect of non-FSI area.

Justice R Subramaniam and Justice K Kumaresh Babu said, “Once the land is shown as common area and common amenity is developed, the land will belong to the owners of such common amenity.”

The bench judges also said that if there is a mistake in the calculation of the undivided share (UDS), it should be rectified by the builder, who cannot take advantage of the mistake and claim that the buyer will have to pay for it. . Unsold portion of UDS.

A division bench of the Madras High Court was hearing the title suit of a building constructed by Ramanium Real Estate Limited on a common area of ​​a property developed at Alwarpet.

In this case, Ramaniam Real Estate Limited had built 77 flats on a piece of land in 2001 and proposed to build a software technology park with a built-up area of ​​about 2 lakh square feet on the said land. However, this never happened.

Instead, a building was constructed in the common area by Ramaniyam Real Estate Limited. He even sold it to a party who rented it out for non-residential purposes. This is after the flat owners have filed a writ petition demanding that the newly constructed building on the common area be handed over to them.

The bench said that the non-FSI area is not salable. He further directed that the sale by the builder of the building constructed on the common area was ‘in contravention of the planning permission’.

The court said that the builder had “cheated the buyers by adopting an incorrect formula for computing the undivided share in the land,” and added that the undivided share in the land was normally calculated by dividing the land area by the total built-up area and multiplying Is performed. Apartment size.

The court directed the builder to ensure execution of rectification deed for UDS in favor of each individual flat owner and any stamp duty payable on such rectification should be borne by the individual flat owners. CMDA It was ordered that the building be handed over to the flat owners association immediately and the execution of the improvement deeds be completed within three months.