Gurugram: Stirring a storm in Haryana’s real estate circles, the Haryana Shehri Vikas Pradhikaran (HSVP)—the state’s urban development agency—has taken on the role of a property broker by launching an online portal for sale and purchase of private property in notified areas in the urban sectors developed and sold by the agency.
The real estate agents in Haryana—more than ten thousand—fear that the move is bound to impact their business adversely.
Introduced on Friday, the ‘Private Property Sale-Purchase Policy’ places HSVP in the position of an intermediary. The portal is for expressions of interest, vetting, and e-auctions for the sale and purchase of properties across sectors in Haryana.
A senior officer of the HSVP working in one of these districts told ThePrint on Sunday that the objective is to ensure a transparent, fair, and legally compliant mechanism for transactions.
The policy says that the seller will have to pay Rs 10,000 plus applicable GST as non-refundable registration fees at the time of registration and 0.25 percent of the asking price as commission to the HSVP at the time of listing.
After the bid’s acceptance, the buyer will have to pay 0.5 percent of the final bid amount as commission to the HSVP.
Currently, for any sale or purchase, real estate agents are authorised to charge half a percent from the buyer and the seller each under Rule 10 of the Haryana Regulation of Property Dealers and Consultants Rules, 2009, though a property consultant requesting anonymity admitted that in many towns of the state, the practice is to charge 1 percent from each side.
The policy is likely to completely cut out the role of real estate agents in the notified parts of Haryana.
Currently, each of the 22 districts have between 300 or more real estate agents; and in towns like Faridabad and Gurugram, the number runs into thousands.
To draw people’s attention, the HSVP has put up an advertisement with Chief Minister Nayab Saini’s picture on its official website www.hsvphry.org.in.
To initiate the process and attract sellers and buyers, the HSVP has launched exemptions on registration fees and commission charges till 31 December.
For September, a rapid-fire timeline has been prescribed: EoIs of allottees/sellers have to be received by 12 September, while verifications should be done by 15 September by estate offices.
Auctions would then be held zone-wise—24 September for Rohtak, 25 September for Hisar, 26 September for Panchkula, 27 September for Faridabad, and 28 September for Gurugram.
The HSVP has developed its sectors (urban estates) in 44 cities with each of the above six zones comprising of six or more towns.
The Faridabad zone encompasses the urban estates of Faridabad, Nuh, Taoru, Faridabad II, Palwal, and Mandi Township Hathin; the Gurgaon zone includes Gurgaon, Rozka Meo, Dharuhera, Rewari, Narnaul, Gurgaon II, Pataudi, and Mahendergarh; the Hisar zone covers Hisar, Hansi, Fatehabad, Bhiwani, Sirsa, Jind, Safidon, Dadri, MTRatia, and MTAdampur; the Panchkula zone comprises Kaithal, Panchkula, Kurukshetra, Shahbad, Jagadhari, Naraingarh, Ambala, Karnal, Pinjore, Taraori, Pehowa, and Gharaunda; and the Rohtak zone consists of Sonipat, Gohana, Bahadurgarh, Rohtak, Panipat, Jhajjar, RGEC, and Murthal.
Real estate agents in Haryana are up in arms against the policy, with the Haryana Property Consultants’ Federation asking Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini to rescind it, citing “vagaries, dangers for buyers and sellers, and encroachment into private transactions”.
In a sharp letter addressed to Chief Minister Nayab Saini, Chief Secretary Anurag Rastogi, and HSVP’s Chief Administrator, Chander Shekhar Khare, the Federation President Suresh Aggarwal charged the authority with deviating from its fundamental mandate.
“The HSVP government office was established with the intention of giving land to the public in the State of Haryana and not for indulgence in the sale and purchase of the same but now HSVP is going the way of acting as a consultant for property between private parties and individuals,” Aggarwal said in his letter.
The federation further contended that the policy makes legal formalities like tehsil registrations and sale agreements obsolete, since there is no statutory body to supervise the whole process.
Aggarwal deplored the “neglect” of thousands of registered property consultants in Haryana, who have generated revenue for the government.
He urged the review of the September 5 policy “for a smooth administration” and specifically asked for a withdrawal of the policy.
Speaking to ThePrint, Aggarwal alleged that the policy was not only against property consultants, who will lose their business, it was also against sellers and buyers because of the “ambiguities” in the policy, which, he said, actually increase risks during transaction between the buyers and the sellers.
“The policy says that once the seller’s bid is accepted by the buyer, the deal shall be deemed to be complete and after getting its commission, the HSVP will issue a permission for transfer valid for 90 days. What if the seller backs out after the e-auction? The buyer’s money will be stuck and the HSVP’s role will be over,” said Aggarwal.
He said that property consultants would be the worst sufferers because more than half the urban property deals in Haryana these days are in the urban estates developed by the HSVP.
“For instance, Panchkula town is completely developed by the HSVP. Even the commercial properties in the town were developed by the authority. In Gurugram and Faridabad, all urban sectors were developed by the HSVP till the private builders came with high rises two decade back. Similarly, in all other major cities, the major chunk of property transactions are in HSVP sectors,” Aggarwal said.
What is the policy?
The policy, accessed by ThePrint, says it aims to “govern the framework for sale and purchase transactions of private properties located in the notified sectors of the Haryana Shehri Vikas Pradhikaran (HSVP), with private parties.”
It guarantees a “transparent, fair, and legally compliant mechanism” via the HSVP Private Properties Sale-Purchase (PPSP) Portal.
“Under the scheme, allottees are allowed to file Expressions of Interest (EoIs) through the “Allottee Corner” in the HSVP website to sell their properties. The EoIs are treated as online applications under the Property Management (PPM) System with a four-working-day cycle consisting of scrutiny by Junior Engineers, Accountants, Assistants, Superintendents/Deputy Superintendents, and Estate Officers. Confirmed properties—free of encumbrances and conforming to norms—are subsequently placed on the portal for registration of buyers and bidding,” the policy provides.
The Haryana Shehri Vikas Pradhikaran, was earlier the Haryana Urban Development Authority (HUDA) and formed in 1977 to facilitate planned urban development. It has traditionally dealt with land acquisition, sector development, and allotments in urban areas with cities like Gurugram and Faridabad witnessing the maximum growth through it.
(Edited by Viny Mishra)