The Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority (MHADA), state government’s housing body, has set a policy for the sale of its unsold 11,184 apartments across various divisional circles.
The policy has been set following the recommendation of a committee that was constituted to review and study the issue.
Basis the new policy, MHADA’s Vice Chairman & Chief Executive Officer Sanjeev Jaiswal has directed the divisional boards of the housing body to take immediate action for the sale of vacant flats.
As per the policy specifications laid down by the authority, the divisional boards are directed to submit proposals to the government for relaxation of certain conditions for the option of ‘direct sale of apartments’ and seek approval.
Individuals, organizations, government, semi-government employees, MHADA employees who are interested in buying 100 or more flats in bulk can be offered a discount on the price of the flats under this option.
Under the option of flat sale by rent instalments, an entity can be appointed on certain terms and conditions basis of agency fee through tender or expression of interest. In this option, the agency appointed to sell the flats will be responsible for paying all the amounts due to MHADA, along with suitable bank guarantees.
As per the third option of renting apartments, unsold vacant flats can be leased by divisional boards to private companies, government-semi-government institutions, banks, charitable institutions, hospitals, educational institutions, employees of contractors implementing large projects of the government. In this option, instructions have been given that flats should not be leased on an individual basis. The period of lease will be three years and it can be extended for another three years.
In the option of selling vacant flats through auction, an official valuer or government town planner may review and evaluate the vacant flats and call for tenders in ‘as is’ condition and sell these flats through auction. It has been decided to adopt the same method for sale of plots that have been unsold so far.
The final option will be regarding the appointment of a marketing agency or real estate agency. In this option, the divisional boards will appoint a real estate marketing agency through tender or through proposals received directly on commission and agency charges. The appointed organization will be responsible for advertising, branding, marketing etc. to sell maximum flats in minimum time.
The decision to set the policy for sale of flats that have remained unsold for the last 10 years is expected to help in releasing MHADA’s funds stuck for many years. The unlocked liquidity through these efforts will help in pushing new housing projects of the housing body.
