Chandigarh housing board’s CEO clarifies rules on inspection during flat transfer
CHANDIGARH: In what comes as major relief for Chandigarh Housing Board (CHB) allottees, the board’s chief executive officer (CEO), Yashpal Garg, on Tuesday, issued orders stating that there was no need for inspection of a dwelling unit by board officials at the time of transfer, if no building violation notice was issued to the allottee.
Board CEO Yashpal Garg said, “From the considerable number of queries during public hearings, it seems that there is need to again clarify aspects about inspections by CHB officials at the time of transfer of dwelling units. In cases where misuse/building violations are not reported as per available record, the information furnished by the applicant in the application form of transfer of dwelling units along with affidavit of the transferor and transferee are relied upon. In all such cases, fresh inspection is not carried out by CHB at the time of transfer of units.”
However, he clarified, “The applicant/transferee are liable for concealment of facts in the affidavit with respect to misuse and violations and necessary action is taken as per law, act, rules accordingly. Further, the transferee continues to be liable for all the building violations either existing at the time of transfer or made subsequently.”
Garg further said that in cases where reports of violations(s) were available in the CHB record, the affidavits about non-violation are not accepted and fresh inspection is carried out by CHB officials.
The board has also issued orders to protect innocent buyers. The order reads, “It has been observed that in some cases, transfer of the unit was allowed on the basis of affidavits but subsequently, certain misuse/building violations were observed. When actions against such violations were initiated, the transferees felt cheated by the transferors by way of wrong declarations/affidavits while such violations existed at the time of transfer of the dwelling unit. As per stand of the CHB, the existing owner/ occupant (transferee) is liable to remove the violations, failing which, to bear the consequences like cancellation of allotment etc. However, to overcome such a situation and to protect innocent buyers, Chandigarh Housing Board has provided optional mechanism where the transferor and the transferee may jointly apply for an inspection by the CHB and obtain a certificate about there being no violation on that point of time. For this purpose, the joint application, along with a fee of Rs 5,000 may be submitted by the transferor (existing owner) at the reception of CHB.”
Garg added that they had issued similar orders on August 27, 2019, but still many property dealers were misguiding people, therefore fresh orders were issued on Tuesday. “In case of any inspection in violation of August 2019 instructions, strict action will be taken against the officers concerned of CHB,” Garg warned.