Chandigarh admin allows transfer, sale of housing society flats

Around 10,000 families living in 108 cooperative housing societies in sectors 48 to 51 can get their flats registered in their name and sell the property at market rates now, with the UT administration on Wednesday notifying the “Chandigarh Scheme for Transfer of Flats/Dwelling Unit in the Co-operative House Building Societies, 2018”. The flats had been constructed on land allotted by the Chandigarh Housing Board (CHB) given on lease for 99 years. The administration had put the transfer of flats of societies on hold in January 2014, a decision that had denied more than 60% of the flats to carry out the process. In its notification, the estate branch of the finance department has decided the charges for both ownership of flats through registry and charges of “unearned increase”. The new scheme will be functional till June 30, 2019. After that “unearned increase” and stamp duty applicable as per rules will be payable by occupants/transferee, which means occupants will have to pay more to get the property transferred in their name. Members of various associations of the housing societies had been holding meetings with UT administrator V P Singh Badnore and senior officials of the administration demanding a new transfer policy. “Since the date has been specified to transfer the flats and pay the one-time unearned money, camps will be organised by the Registrar, Co-operative Societies, to facilitate the public. Thousands of the flats had not been transferred and it was the key demand of the occupants. We will ensure that all interested people can be facilitated without any hassle,” said an official of the administration. Confirming the notification, Ajoy Kumar Sinha, finance secretary, told TOI, “The scheme is operational till June 30, 2019. People can take its benefit. After the deadline ends, people will have to pay extra as specified in the Act.” The administration has also mentioned a list of documents, as per the requirement of each category flats, need to be attached for the transfer of propert.