A section of real estate developers are insisting upon those who had made payments for purchase of flats or given their lands for constructing apartments in exchange for getting some units, to move to their flats without electricity and gas connections, a good number of such flat buyers said. Under the agreement, the developers are bound by contractual terms and conditions to provide these connections before handing over the flats and in the event of their failure to do so within the time-frame, they have to pay penalty as well, some such flat-buyers told the FE. The government has stopped giving new gas connection for commercial use since 2009 and domestic gas connection since July 2010. The electricity connections were also put on hold between April and October 2010, before starting the same in last November on a limited scale for sometime. It will again start from May 15, upon fulfillment of some conditions. Narrating his sufferings, a client said on condition of anonymity said that he had signed an agreement with a developer in August, 2005 and he handed over his five katha land after a few months. "According to the deal, the developer is to handover the flat after two and a half years. But now even after a lapse of five and a half years' period, the developer failed to hand over the flats. This raises the question about the bonafides and sincerity of the developer. Besides, now the developer is asking the client to take over the apartments without gas and power connections. This is unethical and a violation of the agreement." He said, "I don't want to disclose the name of the developer now, but will lodge serious complaints against him later. If the developer would have handed over the flat within 2008, then I could have easily moved then to the flat with gas and power connections. After the government has put on hold giving any new gas or power connection, the developers are now trying to cash in on the situation, which is illegal. "It is unfortunate that even an important office bearer of the Real Estate and Housing Association of Bangladesh (REHAB) failed to handover a small residential project on a piece of five katha land at Uttara (section-4) and such actions not only tarnish the image of good developers but also create manifold problems for the clients.' He said the developer is not sincere about the penalty for the delay which involves a small amount of many in the present-day context, if the current prices are taken into account. Sumon Das, another flat buyer said, "I booked for a flat at a real estate site at Kalyanpur in the city. The total cost of the flat is around Tk 5.0 million (50 lakh) which was supposed to be delivered to me in fully liveable conditions having power and gas connections, by last October." "The flat is ready and the developer is now pushing me to go there but I can't move to flat without having electricity connection. The problem about the absence of gas connection can be resolved with the help of LPG cylinder but electricity connection is related to the use of water pump and household work is absolutely impossible without it." "For this reason I have to pay Tk 19,000 a month for serving a bank loan Taka 2.0 million. Besides that, I have to pay house rent and meet other expenses which is really unbearable," he said. An apartment buyer, Malek Hossain told the FE, "I had to receive my flat at Shantinagar a few months ago without gas connection as I waited for too a long time for the connection." "But after paying rents for a house and servicing my bank loans, I couldn't bear the burden anymore and I took the delivery of the flat. Now I have to buy two Liquid Petroleum Gas (LPG) cylinders a month for cooking food," he said. Real Estate and Housing Association of Bangladesh (REHAB) president Nasrul Hamid MP told the FE, "We have more than 1000 members and we get hundreds of applications on different issues through our customer cell. The REHAB committee sits with both the developer and flat buyer and try to solve the matter through negotiations." About electricity and gas connections, the REHAB president said, "The government has decided to provide power connections from this month. So the electricity crisis will hopefully be resolved soon." "About the gas connection, I talked to the energy adviser Toufique-e-Elahi and Petrobangla Chairman Prof Hossain Monsur and they told me that the gas connection for domestic use will be provided within few months to those who have the demand note" he also said. He added, "About the flat buyers who are waiting for a long period, we suggested for dropping applications at REHAB customer cell or they can also file case against the developer concerned directly under the Real Estate Development and Management Act 2010." There are some similar cases of sufferings for the customers but most of them are not interested to disclose the names of their developers. But they would come out with the names if their problems are not settled sooner rather than later. The aggrieved flat-buyers also urged the government to take tough actions against the defaulting developers and those who take unusually a long time in handing over flats, violating the agreement. As a reputed real estate forum, the REHAB, as most aggrieved persons do strongly feel, should take into account such cases of default, without any bias for the sake of a clean image of the organization and of the compliant developers. The victims suggested that the government should ensure that customers do not suffer because of dishonest activities by any developer, particularly in the present situation when a section of developers are putting pressures on clients for moving to the flat without important utility connections. The suffers should also get the penalty money without hassles, many aggrieved flat-buyers noted. The violations of the provisions of the agreements must be dealt with seriously as these are punishable offences, they pointed out.
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