OCs, building permissions put on hold in Telangana

Affordable housing projects that come in plot size of 1,000-1,500 square metres are in soup. The ready-to-move residential units in the constructed projects are not getting occupied with the delay in the issue of the OCs, and new projects are not coming up for the launch. The real estate sector in the State has almost halted due to this indefinite delay in permissions

Hyderabad: New building permissions for several apartments, gated communities and villa projects have been withheld temporarily across Telangana for the past 3-4 months. Also, there has been an undue delay in issuing occupancy certificates (OC) to more than half of the buildings that were already constructed in the State.

In these circumstances, both home buyers and real estate developers are facing the troubles. There is a huge financial burden on the middle-class people who have been paying their home loan EMIs and living in rented houses. Some of them have complained that the house owners have increased the house rents taking advantage of this situation.

Akhil Reddy, a buyer of 2BHK flat in a gated community at Kompally, said that the developer was unable to give the OC and he has to continue staying in his rented accommodation. “I have planned to live in the new home from mid-February. We were preparing for ‘grihapravesam’ but the builder has not given the OC citing government’s delay as the main cause,” he said.

He was worried because the Municipal Administration and Urban Development (MA & UD) officials may not issue the OC before April 28th, 2024. Later, the days are not considered auspicious for new beginnings. Even if the OC is given next month, he has to wait for four more months to enter into his new home as there is no ‘muhurtham’ till the month of August, 2024. According to the builders, the MA & UD officials were not issuing the OCs and building permissions for the past few months without revealing the reasons behind. The real estate and construction industry insiders say that the new government has directed the municipal authorities to stop giving the approvals until the review and retrack of all the applications.

“The new government has many plans to undertake during their regime. However, the leaders are busy in the upcoming Lok Sabha Elections. They may focus on all other issues only after the polling results. Meanwhile, the MA & UD officials have received blanket instructions from the government to hold the applications,” a builder said, on condition of anonymity.

The builder further said that the HMDA/ GHMC authorities have put on hold the building permissions for the proposed big construction projects in plot sizes of half-acre (2,000 square metres or more) that fall under the ambit of the oral orders. At the same time, they are not delaying the approvals for the small standalone apartment projects and individual houses.

Particularly, affordable housing projects that come in plot size of 1,000-1,500 square metres are in soup. The ready-to-move residential units in the constructed projects are not getting occupied with the delay in the issue of the OCs, and new projects are not coming up for the launch. The real estate sector in the State has almost halted due to this indefinite delay. The OC is an essential legal document for property owners to obtain before occupying their property. It serves as a proof that the property is legally constructed and safe to occupy. As per norms, it is issued only after a thorough inspection of the building's construction. Once the OC is issued, the owner can get the power supply, water supply and other services.

As per the municipal norms, the civic body should issue an OC in 21 days for non-residential buildings and residential buildings constructed in plots above 500 square metres and having building height of up to 10 metres. For residential buildings in a plot area between 200 and 500 square metres, and height above seven metres, the OC should be granted instantly.

As per the TS Building Permission Approval & Self Certification System (TS-bPASS), only 243 OCs were approved out of the total 507 from December 2, 2023 to April 10, 2024 in the State, while 121 OC applications were rejected citing some issues. During the same period, only 767 building permissions were approved out of 3,786 applications, and 270 applications were rejected. The members of various real estate industry bodies such as the Confederation of Real Estate Developers’ Associations of India (Credai) Telangana have given representations to the State government seeking speedy disbursal of the OCs and building permissions. They claim that the MA & UD officials have responded positively and the issue will be resolved very soon.