King Johnson Koyyada : Not just the small builders in Hyderabad, Bengaluru-based Prestige Estates also took the pre-launch route. It started selling flats in pre-launch without obtaining permission from Telangana RERA. But not many in the realty market are unable to understand as to why such a big construction company like Prestige Estates was resorting to such schemes. Once the HMDA permission is granted, it will take a month or two to get the RERA approval. Without waiting for this brief period, the company started selling flats in a hurry. For several buyers, it is ironic that big construction companies like Prestige Estates are selling flats in this way. In fact, considering the company’s reputation, the buyers will queue up to book flats soon after they commence sales.
Prestige Estates has launched a project called Prestige Clairmont in Neopolis at Kokapet. Without taking RERA permission, 3 and 4 bedroom flats were put up for sale from Saturday. The initial price of the flat has been fixed at around Rs 1.5 crore. While the area of a three bedroom flat is 2000 sq.ft, the size of four bedroom flats is up to 2800 sq.ft. And, if a company like Prestige Estates is selling flats in the prelaunch, how can we expect other builders to take up sales after obtaining all permissions. The law should be equal to all, not withstanding the size of the company. No one will have any problem if flats are sold in soft launch after getting RERA clearance. While many real estate majors in the city are selling their flats after soft launch of their projects, the Prestige Estates is in a hurry to take up backdoor sales.
When Real Estate Guru approached Prestige Estates representative Suresh Kumar to find out the reasons for taking up sales before obtaining RERA approval, he explained, “We are taking expression of interest from buyers from Saturday. Cheques will be deposited only after receiving RERA permission.” In other words, this company has violated RERA norms. While the rules clearly state that flats should not be sold without RERA permission, the company is accepting cheques in advance against flats being booked by buyers.
But they are cleverly depositing these cheques in the bank after RERA gives approval. There are no rules that allow the realty companies to resort to such malpractices. Neither the RERA norms permit the companies to take these backdoors to sell the flats nor the State government gave any special permission to Prestige Estates to take up sales without RERA approvals as it has purchased land in Neopolis. There are no government orders as well to carry out such operations exclusively in Neopolis or Kokapet area.
When Real Estate Guru pointed out about the digital media campaign through social media platforms regarding the pre-launch offer, the Prestige Estates representatives said that some channel partners are conducting the campaign regarding the pre-launch without the company’s approval. Thus, a realty company like Prestige Estates is in a situation where it cannot control its channel partners. After all this, we must have to wait for some more time on Telangana RERA’s reaction to the Prestige Estates’ new sales strategy. It is unclear whether the company will be given approvals without any action or will be treated on par with other companies by penalizing it for booking flats in prelaunch without their permission.
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