Bengaluru homebuyers meet state govt, demand deemed conveyance provisions

According to homebuyers, state government officials have promised action on the issues raised in the meeting, including amending the RWA registration process.

Bengaluru Deputy Chief Minister, D K Shivakumar, has met with more than 300 homebuyers to solve several real estate issues in the state, including the need for clarity on resident welfare association (RWA) registrations. The homebuyers have submitted a memorandum demanding "deemed conveyance" for delayed projects in Bengaluru.

"Unlike in the Maharashtra Ownership of Flats Act, there is no clause for deemed conveyance in Karnataka. Therefore, the land title of apartment complexes in Karnataka continues to vest with the promoter and therefore, is misused without any intimation to the apartment purchasers," the memorandum presented on August 26 added.

Deemed Conveyance occurs when the builder/land owner or the legal heir refuses to hand over the titles and rights to the co-operative societies. In such cases, the housing society has to appear before the District Deputy Registrar.

According to homebuyers, state government officials have promised action on the issues raised in the meeting, including amending the RWA registration process.

Clarity in apartment registration

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The competent authority, as per the Karnataka Apartment Ownership Act 1972 (KAOA), is the Registrar of Co-Operative Societies, Dhananjaya Padmanabachar, President of the Karnataka Homebuyers Forum said. "However, when they approach them for grievance redressal, they decline to address homebuyers' concerns saying that they don’t have jurisdiction to address the complaints," he added.

In a Right to Information (RTI) reply dated January 6, 2023, accessed by Moneycontrol, the legal department of the state government said, "KAOA 1972 does not allow registrations of the RWAs."

The homebuyers demanded that the state government pass an order to declare the competent authority to register apartment owners’ associations in Karnataka, especially under KAOA, so the promoters can comply with section 17 of the RERA Act to transfer the common areas to the association of allottees.

"If the builder is untraceable or unwilling to participate in conveyance, the homebuyers could apply to the registrar for deemed conveyance," the memorandum added.

Among the other issues, the homebuyers have demanded a government order to define the process and stamp duty guidelines for executing conveyance deeds to transfer the common areas to the association of allottees. Additionally, the homebuyers have stated that despite having no authority, the sub-registrars in the state continue to register RWAs and bylaws.

Strengthening real estate policies

The memorandum added that most of the recommendations had already been submitted to the state government, but there had been no commitment from the government officials to deliver these services, although this had been mentioned in the party manifesto.

Odisha has implemented a new policy in 2023 by the name Odisha Apartment (Ownership and Management Ordinance 2023 which repeals the Odisha Apartment Ownership Act 1982 and is the first state to implement a RERA-compliant policy that guarantees land rights to home buyers and mandates the formation of a corporate society for flat buyers before executing the agreements itself, the homebuyers said.

"We request D K Shivakumar to give directions to the Housing Department, the Cooperation Department, the Urban Development Department and the Revenue Department to work together to set the directions for RERA Karnataka to implement RERA 2016 to protect homebuyer's rights on land," it concluded.