Conversion charges set to shock city residents

Ramkrishan Upadhyay

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, September 13

While the Administration is yet to notify the new rates for conversion of residential property from leasehold to freehold after a reduction in the collector rates, it is certain that the new rates will shock residents, who will think twice before opting for conversion.

While allowing the transfer of residential property from leasehold to freehold on August 18, the Administration had decided to "fix collector rates as land rates in the formula for the calculation of the conversion charges". The Administration used to charge Rs 1,710 per sq metre as conversion fee before 2013. Sources said though the Administration had reduced the collector rates by 5 per cent for residential properties, the conversion charges would still increase many times. The Administration is revising the rates after 20 years. The Administration will use the formula mentioned in the rules formulated in 1996 for converting leasehold property into freehold. According to the rules, there shall be no conversion fee for plots measuring below 50 sq metres as well as for EWS, cheap houses and industrial houses.

JD Gupta, a property consultant, said as per the new formula, the conversion rates would increase with the size of the plots. The Estate Office has divided the residential properties into three zones: Sector 1 to 12 (zone I), Sector 14 to 37 (zone II) and Sector 38 onwards (zone III) for fixing the collector rates.

The conversion charges will differ from zone to zone as the collector rates are different in all zones. Sources said on an average, the conversion rate was likely to be Rs 8,36,250 for a plot of 150 sq yards, Rs 14,86,600 for a plot of 200 sq yards, Rs 18,58,2 50 for a plot of 250 sq yards and Rs 40,26,925 for a plot of 350 sq yards. Vinod Joshi, an architect, said the new rates would hit the middle class hard.

Not realistic, say traders

A number of organisations of traders, property dealers and industrialists have expressed resentment over the "meagre" reduction in the collector rates, terming it unrealistic and have urged the Administration to reduce the rates further to bring these on a par with those in neighboring states. YK Mahajan, president of the Industries Association, Chandigarh, Yudhvir Kaura, president, Laghu Udyog Bharati, and Naveen Miglani, president, Chambers of Chandigarh Industries, expressed resentment over the failure to reduce the collector rates for the Industrial Area. Baldev Goel, president, Chandigarh Business Council, and JD Gupta and Kamaljeet Singh Panchhi, property consultants, said the reduction in the collector rates "will not help anyone as these were not realistic". The Administration reduced the collector rates of commercial properties by 10 per cent while a 5 per cent reduction was made in the case of residential properties on Tuesday.

CHB to charge Rs1,000for application form

The Chandigarh Housing Board (CHB) will charge Rs 1,000 for the application form for converting dwelling units from leasehold to freehold. Besides, Rs 5,000 will be charged as the processing fee. The CHB has invited applications from allottees for converting their dwelling units from leasehold to freehold. If the applicants have already applied for conversion in the past and their cases are pending, then they need not submit a fresh application.