Putting aside all my work, I must write about the bitter experience that we had buying this flat irrespective of the kind of pressure it puts me into when I try to remember.
The entrie story of buying this damn flat spanned for about 10 months and took away most of the year 2012.
- They quoted 65L initially and came down to 60L without much of negotiation cycles. We entered into a 3 months' agreement, which is usual in the month of Feb.
- The owners gave us a neat spiral bound book, and told us that it had every other document possible on earth.
- We went ahead and applied for the loan. We opted HDFC, one of the leading players in home loans though the owner had the loan from Vijaya bank (not a very well known name for taking a homeloan in a city like Bangalore)
- Then came the news that this is an unapproved project for HDFC. We checked with LIC, ICICI - all of that had this one unapproved as well. The sales person told us that if all the necessary documents are provided, it is not a big deal to get the loan approved.
- We banked on the owners, obviously, to get us all the necessary documents. There were missing ECs and tax papers which were produced to us. No problem.
- We had to push HDFC so hard due to the pressure from the seller that the bank gave us the loan approval, subjected to legal clearance. They gave us in writing that there were no issues with our credit history whereas some of the necessary documents to have the project approved are not available or they are illegible.By the time the first set of loan approval came by, it was April end. We had 2 weeks time in hand for registration.
- We sent the docs list from the bank to the owners to hear this one-liner - all of them are already there in the booklet that they gave.
- Multiple times we visited the owners place that's about 15km from where we lived to get clarity on the papers required. And when we were parotting what the seller tells us to the bank, the bank does not agree!
- We ran around to the Jayanagar sub-registrar office for about a month to get the papers of the house that we were not even sure if its going to be ours while the actual owners sit and enjoy their exotic honeymoon abroad!
- The 2 weeks time was over and we were being rolled around between the bank and the seller. We did not have a problem taking pain running around as we did not want to waste the 3 months effort that was put in already to having the loan approved!
- The owners were acting very patient, instead of being proactive! They knew two things best, 1. how to push 'their' work onto us. 2. How to extract money from us.
- And my husband not being a very "talkative" person, I go up to handle this owner lady who supposedly is a banker, and that who wants to make sure we understand her very vast experience. I start off the call with this single statement saying the bank needs this - she talks for the next 20 mins without taking a breathe, all not really about the actual topic, but some screwed up stories! I again ask her my question to understand that she really has no clue about her own house!
- The initial agreement amount was 1.2L and they kept asking us for more payment citing their patience and need. How stupid! We were like these Kings okay to pay as and when they asked and by now for the house that did not even have approval we have already paid a whopping 3.5Lakhs! And the owners would act like its their grandfather's money!
- By now it was mid June and we are in 'the' week. We go meet the Legal dept, HDFC and say the owners tell us they have everything in there. He screens through the file and tells us they do not have this basic document called "Sale Agreement" from the actual seller whom my seller had bought it from. There is nothing called "conversion order" too. Now we go back to understand what a conversion order is and how EC/Khata will play no role when it comes to the land conversion order. FYI, EC/Khata are just tax related papers to prove that you have been paying the taxes properly to leverage the Govt provided services - which means you NEED NOT be the owner of that land! These docs in no way prove that you bought this land legally and are allowed to build a house there. and Conversion order is not available in many cases in a city like Bangalore - where most of the lands were agricultural land converted into residential which calls for a conversion order. When I go back to explain this to the seller lady, she tells me she NEVER signed something called Sale Agreement. She does not want to check with the actual owner of the apartment who still is holding good number of flats in that apartment itself AND who just lives the next street! Enough to explain in itself. Now we sit and read the Reddy's history, his grandfather's and great grandfathers'! Reddy -the land owner to understand who this land belongs to. Surprisingly Reddy just claims in one of the documents that this land on which this flat is built is his with no reference #. This ref # is another interesting topic, that every land that is registered legally will have a ref # that would be the document # that is with the register office while you register the land.
- Coming back, after we pushed to no extent, she tells us she can take us to Vijaya bank from where she took the loan and we can look for all the docs ourself! We say ok &-quot;thala varaikum vandhachu, jaan pona enna muzham pona enna state". We go on Saturday to face all the bankers there who think they are some IAS officers. And there comes the Sale agreement, but no conversion order yet! The next day, sunday, the owners call us to say that they do not want to go ahead with the deal. I crashed. My husband by now has lost even the wee bit interest that he had in going ahead buying this house with this so much of risk.
I still did not want to give up and goto HDFC on Monday, sit there cry and the bank goes ahead approves the loan taking something called "Indemnity certificate". Now I will have to sign this for Reddy's great grandfather. And it came vamsa vazhi to Reddy and that I will not involve HDFC in case if there are issues after years! - OK SURE!!
Now the pusher in me says, I will sign it: P And my husband - you know what comes after an IIM degree. One tight slap!
All I'm saying is what happened to us above is NOT uncommon in Bangalore. But its all about the amount of risk you are ok to take.
Moving on.. What's with our 3.5L that the owner is holding!? They first told us they will return it ASAP. Which was definitely not agreeable but now this sense of fear starts peeping into us what if they dont do what they promise. We waited for 2 more weekends with no reply and when we call back, they just want us to listen to their ASAP. My husband makes a schedule xls (his way) which just matches our payment cycle and we send it to them for no response. With further pushing they paid us some 1L the next month. And when we ask about the rest, they say ASAP.
I failed to understand the banker in her. Who goes on with no plans for whatever months ahead. Now its our time baby - we push and they get annoyed! As if we are asking for some favor!
She would not fail to mention that the whole screwing up was because of the buyer, ie us! And also 1L agreement amount was actually not refundable! While it is so CLEARLY mentioned in the sale agreement that if the sellers fail to produce documents that causes the buyers to withdraw the deal, the sellers have can exercise no rights on the agreement amount. But the banker miserably failed understanding this, because in her terms there is nothing called Sale Agreement! May be, her memory failed her again that she signed one with us: P
She keeps saying she will pay asap and even favor us by returning the agreement amount and totally beleives that we are this very fools who can be controlled in her own ways. And even worse, I push her to come meet us, she agrees and like an hour before she calls up to say her Scorpio had a puncture. So the next time I don't want to miss, I make her come over, do or die, she comes in this flashing brand new Swift Dzire - my mind thinks, f**king all my money! She puts up a scene that she was very disappointed when we asked her for our money and even this time not prepared to pay us in full. She royally writes a cheque for some bit of the remaining payment and I go down on my knees that I want all the payment and give it in post dated cheques. This was in Sep and she asks me, SHAMELESSLY, if she can write it for Dec 31st. I tell her to write it for Dec 1st. And we had to wait till this date to make sure that was not a fake cheque. Thanks a ton!
We were the 2nd buyers and we got to know this through a home loan sales rep from LIC. When we asked the banker lady (owner) she says the first deal did not go through because the buyer did not have enough money! - We were like 'Oh Really! '.
And now after getting rid of it all, we realize what these people are really upto! I wanted to write this, hoping anyone who plans to buy this flat the next time takes utmost care. 65L is a lot of money!
0 comments