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Greater Noida Homebuyers protest demanding flat ownership

By Rishabh Chamoli | 2022-12-28

Ditching Christmas celebrations, the homebuyers of over 15 housing societies in Greater Noida and Noida Extension held a protest demanding the handover of their flats to complete the stalled registration process successfully, on December 25, 2022.

In a move to claim ownership of residential apartments, homebuyers of over 15 group housing projects across Greater Noida and Noida Extension protested on Sunday morning of December 25, 2022, at the Ek Murti Chowk in Greater Noida. The aggrieved protesters stated that they shall continue with weekly demonstrations and threatened a large scale agitation if their demands were not met.

Homebuyers of which housing societies participated in the protest?
The homebuyers with flats in housing societies like Upcountry, Supertech Eco Village 1, 2 and 3, Apex Golf Avenue, JM Florence, Casa Greens One, Amaatra Homes, Ajnara Homes, Earthcon, and La Residentia, among others, participated in the protest. Most of these group housing projects are located in Greater Noida West.

What led the homebuyers to protest?
The primary reason for the protest is the stalled registration process in several housing societies. As the developers failed to timely pay the land dues, the development authority has since held up the flats registries, demanding that builders clear their penalties first. The interest rate of charging the dues has also been a bone of contention between the developers and the authority. The developers body, the Confederation of Real Estate Developers Associations of India (CREDAI), has submitted a petition to review the interest rate at the Supreme Court (SC). The apex court has scheduled a hearing for the same on January 19, 2023.

What is the impact of stalled project registry?
In this tussle between the developers and the authority, thousands of flat owners continue to bear the brunt. As per Abhishek Kumar, President, Noida Extension Flat Owners Welfare Association (NEFOWA), The registration has been stuck for several years, with many owners demanding their flats for the last 12 years.

According to Mihir Gautam, one of the protesting homebuyers, The absence of registration fails to make us legal owners. Banks and financial institutions charge a high interest rate on home loans, and we are not always eligible for home improvement loans. Further, an unregistered flat cannot be sold as it would not fetch the appropriate price as per market trends.

However, amid such chaos, homebuyers state that their sustained online and offline protests have reaped some positive results as politician Mahesh Sharma, Member of Parliament (MP) from Noida has taken cognisance of the issue and raised it in the Lok Sabha to help bring about some justice to the homeowners.

As homebuyers continue making efforts to claim what is rightfully theirs, it is hoped that the stakeholders realise the impact of such delays on the lives of the end users, who help keep the industry afloat despite adverse market conditions.

Previous protests by homebuyers against developers
Noida and Greater Noida are infamous for multiple builders delaying their projects or flat registries. Buyers of flats in Sector 107 in Noida, for example had held a protest outside Noida Authoritys office against stalled projects in the sector back in 2016. A 2003 order by Supreme Court against the acquisition of land in Sector 107 had led to several projects consisting of 5,000 apartments in the area being stalled mid construction. Similar to this episode, Noida and Greater Noida have been witnessing various protests against builders over reasons including but not limited to delayed possessions, stalled registry and construction quality issues.