12/8/11

Flat buyers don t have to shell out extra for parking

Publication: The Times Of India Mumbai;Date: Dec 8, 2011;Section: Times Cit ;Page: 2

Flat buyers don t have to shell out extra for parking

Rebecca Samervel TNN Mumbai: Experts have hailed a consumer court s order that developers cannot make a flat owner pay extra for parking placeopen and coveredwithin the complex. According to the forum, parking space is part of the common amenities that buyers are entitled to at no additional cost. The Mumbai Suburban District Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum on December 2 directed Dinshaw Trapinex Builders Private Ltd to allot an open or covered parking space to buyer Firoz Khan at no additional cost. Khan had purchased an 839-ft apartment at Dheeraj Residency in Goregaon (W) in 2003. The forum stated that the builder would have to pay Khan a compensation of Rs 3 lakh if he was not provided a parking slot. We hold that the opposite party is guilty of deficiency in service as well as unfair trade practice in not making the allotment of the parking space to the Complainant along with flat. The forum based its observations on the provisions in the Development Control Regulations for Greater Bombay, under which a builder has a legal obligation to provide parking spaces when properties are developed. The Regulations state that if the carpet area of a flat exceeds 70 sq ft mts (approximately 753 sq ft), each tenement must have one parking space. The forum took into consideration provisions of a 2010 SC judgement, which held that parking areas are part of common areas and facilities under the Maharashtra Ownership Flats Act (MOFA). It quoted the SC judgment, which held that stilt parking or open parking areas are not sellable independently. Khan said that he purchased the flat, for Rs 19.5 lakh in 2003, but he was not given parking space. On the contrary, the builder started selling parking spaces to new buyers. In June 2006 Khan demanded that he be allotted a parking space. The builder denied its liability. Khan alleged breach of provisions of the Maharashtra Ownership Flats Act (MOFA), 1963 and Development Control Regulations (DCR), Bombay, 1991. In December 2007 he served a legal notice to the builder asking him to allot a parking space. He approached the forum in 2007. The builder argued that Khan had only purchased the flat and not the parking space.

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