Why property owners across Gurugram can't get independent floors registered

GURUGRAM: Hundreds of property buyers in Gurugram, who had invested in independent floors, are in a fix over the fate of their property. Due to restrictions by the state government on registering independent floors built on plots less than 180 sq yd in size, the owners can neither formally own them, nor sell the property.
The buyers allege that at the time they had booked the property, the developers had promised it would get registered once the state government formulates a policy in this regard. But when the policy for registration of independent floors was formed, it excluded many of them by setting a lower limit for registration at a plot size of 180 sq yd. Since TOI recently reported that 400 independent floor owners in Suncity township were unable to register their properties, hundreds of such cases have come to light in Sushant Lok, Palam Vihar and other residential colonies.

Satish Pandita, owner of an independent floor in Sector 57, told TOI the same problem is being faced by owners of Sushant Floors in Sushant Lok 2. “More than 300 families are facing the same situation. I bought one in 2004, with the intention of selling it for a profit in a few years and buying a better property elsewhere, but now we’re not even able to register it,” he said. “The government’s law is not allowing me to register property on plots of size less than 180 sq yd. My property is on a plot of size 179.4 sq yd, just short of the mark by 0.6 sq yd,” he added. “Not only has this arbitrary rule hurt buyers like me, but also the government. Approximately Rs 8 crore would have accrued in government coffers as registration fee from these 300 floors,” he further said.

Similarly, independent floors in Palam Vihar were built on 173 sq yd plots in 2000. In 2008-2009, when the policy on registration of independent floors came, the relaxation was for plot size 180 sq yd or more. Neena Bansal, a Palam Vihar resident, said most of the people who had bought independent floors on plot sizes less than 180 sq yd before this law came into effect are from the middle class. “We’re unable to sell it due to this law that came into force with retrospective effect,” she said.

Buyers complain they can neither get the registry done, nor get loans against it. “We have sent innumerable emails to the department of town and country planning, and to the chief minister, but to no avail,” said an owner.

Senior DTCP officials said the department has sought an opinion on this policy from the chief minister’s office.