HINDUSTANTIMES, NEWDELHI, SATURDAY JULY24, 2010 htestates07

by Harsh Vardhan Roongta decision about transferring the loan. The first one is the prepayment charge,which Giving landlords afair deal youwill have to paytoyour current bank forclosing your existing home loan account. Rent control legislations have to strikeabalance between the rights andobligations that landlords The second one is pro- cessing fee, which youwill andtenants have towardseachother Home Loans have to paytothe bank whereyou intend to trans- Iwant to purchase ahouse in feryour loan. These factors SunilTyagi Patiala and my budget is Rs 10 will help youintaking a lakh. IhaveRs1.5 lakh in decision about switching elations between reserve. My salary is Rs 20,000 your loan. But if youare landlords and ten- per month. Howmuch loan can I still paying an interest rate ants in the get? Iwork with areputed in double digits, it will be National Capital pharma company. better foryou to switch. RTerritory of Delhi -Sangeet Shah Check with your current (NCT) arepresently gov- Banks usually grant loans of bank whether theyare will- ernedbythe Transfer of up to 85 per cent of the cost ing to drop the rate foryou PropertyAct, 1882, and Delhi of ahouse as home loan. on payment of afee. RentControl Act(DRCA), Based on the information 1958. However, the DRCA provided by youand assum- Ihad initially taken aloan from does not apply to: ing youare not repaying one bank, and sold the house ■ Anypremisesbelonging to anyloan currently,you will and repaid the loan. Ibought a the government; anytenancy not have aproblem in get- newhouse and took anew loan or other similar relationship ting aloan forthe balance from another bank. Can Iclaim created by agrant from the amount of Rs 8.5 lakh. tax benefit on both the loans? government in respect of the -Sameer Singh premises taken on lease,or Iamasalaried person and live Therewill be two tax impli- requisitioned, by the govern- with my parents. Thehouse in cations in your case.First, ment; provided thatwhere which we live is co-owned by my sinceyou’ve sold your old anypremises belonging to the parents. Thereisanoutstanding home,you will need to con- government have been or are loan amount of Rs 7lakh for the sider the tax implications lawfully let by anyperson by house. In order to gettax benefit, of the same.Ifthe house virtue of an agreement with Iwish to transfer the loan in my has been held forless than the government or otherwise. name. Can Idothat? fiveyears, then anydeduc- Then, notwithstanding any -Sanjeev Kumar tion claimed forprincipal judgment, decree or order of Only ownersorco-owners repayments under Section anycourt or other authority, can gettax benefits on 80 Cwill need to be offered the provisions of this Act home loan repayments. fortaxation in the year of shall apply to such tenancy; Even if youget your name sale.Thereisnoimpact of ■ Anypremises,whether res- added as aco-borrowerin the sale on the interest idential or not, whose month- the loan, it will not help claimed as deduction in ly rent exceeds Rs 3000 and you, as youare not the respect of the house that Rs 5000; or owner or the co-owner. has been sold. ■ Anypremises constructed Youcan getdeduction for on or after the commence- Itook ahome loan from aprivate the total principal paid on ment of the Delhi Rent bank fouryears ago at the rate of the home loans during the Control (Amendment) Act, 12 percentfor 20 years. Will it be year under Section 80 Cup 1988, foraperiod of ten years advisable to transfer the loan to to amaximum of Rs 1lakh. from the date of completion another bank? In case the sale of old house of such construction. -Shobha Chopra and purchase of newhouse Despite the DRCA having Sinceyou arepaying avery happened in the same undergone extensiveamend- highrateofinterest, you financial year,you can ments overthe years, many alternativesuitable accom- In the case of Satyawati premises areheld and that landlords by placing commer- should transfer your exist- claim income tax benefits problems remained unad- htestates modation. However, this term Sharma versus Union of the landlordorsuch person cial properties on the same ing loan to some other bank in respect to home loans dressed. Section 14(1)(e) of has been liberally interpreted (2008), the Supreme has no other reasonably suit- pedestal as residential prop- in case theyoffer youabet- taken forboth the houses. the DRCA,dealing with ‘pro- LEGAL REMEDIES by the Supreme Court in sev- Court held thatportions of able accommodation.” erties forthe purposes of evic- ter deal in terms of interest tection of tenant against evic- eral judgments. Section 14(1)(e) of the DRCA By this ruling,itisnow pos- tion. Rent control legislations rate.Thereare two major Roongta is CEO,Apna Paisa. tion’, wasone such con- the Section restricted him The core question was indeed violated landlords’ sible foralandlordtoseek have to strikeabalance charges, which need to be He can be reached at tentious clause.The literal from recovering possession whether Section 14(1)(e) vio- fundamental right to equality. eviction of atenant from his between the rights and obliga- considered while taking any [email protected] meaning derived from this on the grounds of his bona lates Article 14 (doctrine of Striking down the discrimi- propertyinDelhi rented out tions thatlandlords and ten- Section earlier suggested that fide requirement foroccupa- equalitybeforelaw)ofthe natory parts of Section forcommercial purpose by ants have towardseachother the plea of bona fide require- tion as aresidence. The term Constitution of India, insofar 14(1)(e), the apexCourt held proving bona fide require- by ensuring both parties are ment by alandlordfor recov- “bona fide need” in the DRCA as it differentiates between thatthis Clause will nowbe ment forhimself or anyfamily equally protected by law. ering possession of the prop- refers to circumstances premises let out forresiden- read as: “thatthe premises member dependent on him. ertywas only valid if such wherethe landlordneeds tial and commercial purpos- arerequired bona fide by the Earlier,Section 14(1)(e) was The author is senior partner, propertyhad been rented out possession of the propertyfor es, in mattersofeviction on landlordfor himself or for skewedsharply in favour of ZEUS Law Associates, acorpo- forresidential purpose. himself,orfor anymember of the grounds of bona fide anymember of his family tenants by being overlyunfair rate commercial law firm. One However, if alandlordhad his family dependent on him, requirement of the landlord dependent on him, if he is the towardslandlords. This judg- of its areas of specialisation is rented out his propertyfor and wherethe landlordor and restricts his right only to owner thereof,orfor anyper- ment is awelcome move for real estate transactional and commercial purposes, then such person has access to no residential premises. son forwhose benefit the protecting the interests of litigation work Thetransparencycurve

Kiran Gupta, head–research and REIS,Jones LangLaSalle Meghraj (JLLM), ainterna- tionalreal estateconsultancy. Nine out of the 15 fastest improvers areinEurope,and the remainingsix areinAsia Pacific –tobemoreprecise, three from India and three from . Countries with lowerinvestor-interest levels, such as , , and others, have actually improvedthe most since2008. On the heels of the global cri- sis, real estate transparency levels in one-thirdofthe coun- triesare static or declining. “India’s real estate market is rapidly shedding the ele- ments thatwerepart of aless maturesystem,”saysAnuj Puri, chairman and country head, Jones Lang LaSalle Meghraj.“The increasing transparency levels areareli- ableindicator thatthe coun- try is adapting fast to the vival rather than market ways in which real estate busi- India surges ahead advancement. The average Keyfindings –India ness is done in moredevel- in its real estate improvement in real estate oped countries. The result is transparency across the 81 India hassurgedpercepti- thatIndianreal estateisgain- transparency markets coveredbyarecent bly ahead in its real estate ing swiftly in international survey has halved in 2008- transparencyranking. It credibility, and this in turn is ranking indicating 2010,when compared to the currently occupies the boostinginvestorconfidence that the countryis 2006-2008and 2004-2006 number 41 slot among 81 levels.” period, says the 2010 Global nations covered The survey identifies the rapidlygaining real estate transparency index Tier III cities in India have fastest-moving markets over international released by Jones Lang graduated from lowto the past two years, and pres- LaSalle and LaSalle semi-transparent levels ents the top-ranking markets credibility InvestmentManagement. in each of the fivetransparen- “The latest transparency Indian cities in each tier are cy categories –performance indexreveals thatIndia has nowconsidered slightly measurement, marketfunda- HT Estates correspondent yetagain surgedaheadinits moretransparent than their mentals, listed vehicles,legal real estate transparency rank- Chinese counterparts and regulatory environment he recent turmoil in ing.The country’sTier 1cities and transactionprocess. global financial, eco- arecurrently ranked number transparent.Further, Indian Experts from various disci- nomic and real estate 41 among the nationssur- cities in each tier arenow con- plines, such as accounting, Tmarkets has impacted veyed, while India’s tertiary sidered slightly moretrans- finance and lawhavealso marketbehaviour,with real cities have graduated from the parent than their Chinese been consulted, especially in estate players focusing on sur- low-transparencytier to semi- counterparts,”saysAbhishek emerging markets.

The bhoomi pujan ceremonywas initiative in supportofthe Go Green inshort performedbyVijay Jindal, CMD, Community and Iamexcited to sup- SVPGroup. portthis cause,because theimpor- “Weare happytoannounce the tanceofgreen housing in India will SVPGroup holds bhoomi second phase for bookings and are directly have an impact on the world expecting bookings for morethan and its environment.” pujan at Krishna Garden 150 units. We hope to deliver this TheSVP Group performed bhoomi project by March 2013,” he said. A Piyush Rosettelaunched pujan at their one of the affordable sample flat of 1,000 sq ft is ready. 2009, Stefania housing projects —Krishna Garden— Krishna Gardenhas 2BHK-plus- Fernandez, with companyofficials in Bhiwadi Gulmohur GardenPhase-II.Krishna storeapartments from 950 sq ft to Gardenisspread over six acresof 1,000 sq ft. ‘Go Green’ concept. Miss Universe ThePiyush Group recently launched land located in RajNagar Extn; NH- 2009, Stefania Fernandez, in Delhi ‘Piyush Rosette’ located in Bhiwadi, 58. Miss Universe promotes recently,tosupportthe cause, was Rajasthan. Spread over 11.16acres This project will be constructed seen interacting with those present (approximately), the project has on the theme of ‘premium small ‘Go Green’concept at the Go Green promotional event independent2-and 3-bedroom apartments’, and targets buyers who organised by EarthInfrastructures homes, varying in size–from136 sq want apremium apartment in EarthInfrastructures Ltdhas roped Ltd. yd to 180 sq yd.Prices startatRs affordable prices. in Miss Universe 2009 to promote Fernandezsaid, “This is apositive 11.25 lakh.