Bengaluru: Flat buyers dread losing plots, want law to gain ownership

BENGALURU: Amid growing uncertainty over a lack of clear legal framework pertaining to the title, ownership and maintenance of group-housing residential properties, flat owners have demanded that the state govt implement a clearer law to address their concerns.

Flat owners’ associations have highlighted that in the absence of proper laws, builders aren’t transferring ownership of the undivided land on which an apartment stands to the flat owners’ association, and this has given them enough leeway to mortgage the land, raise fresh structures, and even lay claim to compensation when a part of the property is acquired.

The Bangalore Apartments Federation (BAF) recently appealed to deputy chief minister DK Shivakumar that the govt expedite its measures to update the laws.

“There are significant gaps with regard to property and ownership rights in the Karnataka Apartment Ownership Act (KAOA), 1972. These gaps need to be fixed. We had represented the problem to the govt last year too. When the govt was formed last year, the deputy CM had said they would be forming a committee with experts to look into the issue once the survey is done. It has been a year but the committee hasn’t yet been formed. The deputy CM acknowledged the issue and said he’d look into this,” BAF president Vikram Rai said.

Legal experts and flat owners’ associations TOI spoke with have been complaining about how certain lobbies are benefiting from the multiple laws in place with regard to ownership and maintenance of properties, and how the govt’s reticence to clear the air hasn’t helped matters.

They point out there are at least three laws on the matter in Karnataka: KAOA 1972; the Karnataka Ownership Flats (Regulation of the Promotion of Construction, Sale, Management, and Transfer) Act (KOFRA), 1972; and the Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act (RERA), 2016.

“While KAOA refers to the owners’ association, it speaks neither about how to bring that body into existence nor about transferring the undivided land to the association. KOFRA and RERA categorically state the flat owners’ association has to be registered under the Co-operative Societies Act or Companies Act, and ownership of the undivided land must be transferred in the name of said association within a time frame,” Anil Kalgi, secretary of Bangalore City Flat Owners’ Association (BCFOA), said.

In its representation to the deputy CM, BAF said it has been receiving complaints about conflicts and legal cases involving builders, homeowners, RWAs and various statutory bodies/regulators, indicating the lack of clarity on the issue of ownership.

Srinivasa Talla, President of BCFOWA, told TOI that a chapter needs to be added to the Karnataka Co-Op Society Act 1959 for apartment complexes with few exemptions to give proper effect to apartment owners' co-op societies and transfer of undivided land to the association for effective management.

MS Shankar, general secretary, Forum for People Collective Efforts, which was previously known as Fight for RERA, elaborated, “RERA-Karnataka hasn’t held a single review meeting with stakeholders since 2017... no wonder the implementation of the RERA legislation is flawed and flat buyers are suffering.”

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