Chandigarh: CHB property owner, buyer can jointly seek inspection

The facility will protect innocent buyers from facing consequences of building violations done by the sellers

The owner and prospective buyer of a Chandigarh Housing Board (CHB) dwelling unit can jointly apply for its inspection to obtain a certificate about there being no violation at the time of property transfer.

An order on relevant lines was earlier issued on August 27, 2019, and is available on the CHB website.

In a clarification issued on Tuesday, Yashpal Garg, chief executive officer, CHB, said: “In cases where misuse/building violations are not reported as per available record, the information furnished by the applicant in the application form of transfer of dwelling units along with the affidavit of the transferor and transferee are relied upon. In all such cases, fresh inspection is not carried out by the CHB at the time of transfer of units.”

However, the applicant/transferee are liable for concealment of facts in the affidavit with respect to misuse and violations, and necessary action can be taken as per law/act/rules accordingly. Further, the transferee continues to be liable for all the building violations either existing at the time of transfer or made subsequently. In cases where reports of violations are available in CHB records, the affidavits about non-violation are not accepted and fresh inspection is carried out by the officials.

“It has been observed that in some cases transfer of the unit was allowed on the basis of affidavits, but subsequently certain misuse/building violations were observed. When action was initiated against such violations, the transferees felt cheated as such violations existed at the time of transfer. However, as per the CHB’s stand, the existing owner/occupant (transferee) is liable to remove the violations or bear the consequences, like cancellation of allotment,” said Garg.

It is to overcome such a situation and protect the innocent buyers that the board has provided an optional mechanism wherein the transferor and transferee may jointly apply for an inspection by CHB and obtain a certificate about there being no violation at that point of time. “For this purpose, the joint application, along with a fee of ₹5,000, can be submitted by the transferor (existing owner) at the CHB reception,” said Garg.

An order on relevant lines was earlier issued on August 27, 2019, and is available on the CHB website. In case any inspection is carried out in violation of these instructions, the board has also warned of strict action against the officials concerned.