Noida properties may become freehold soon

Providing relief to residents and new property buyers in the city, the Noida authority may soon convert the status of all properties from leasehold to freehold

Providing relief to residents and new property buyers in the city, the Noida authority may soon convert the status of all properties from leasehold to freehold. Residents, homebuyers and industrialists have been, for a long time, demanding the conversion.

A team from consulting firm Ernst & Young —hired to study if the conversion will help the authority gain more revenue, which could, in turn, be used for development and maintenance — will submit its final report on the issue to Noida authority chief next week.

While under the freehold system, an allottee has outright ownership of the property, thereby making its transfer and sale easier, under the leasehold system, the government has control over the sale or transfer of a property. Moreover, as per the leasehold system, the owner has right to call the property his or hers for only 99 years — and not forever.

The authority is considering a proposal that calls for allowing registry (property title) of each floor in a plotted in a plotted house that includes bungalows and other buildings for different uses.

At present, one cannot get a floor-wise registry done and has to, in fact, get a complete plotted house registered since properties are on leasehold.

Noida authority chief executive officer Alok Tandon said: “We are working on the proposal calling for the conversion of properties from leasehold to freehold as it will fetch more revenue that can be used for development and maintenance. But to make that happen, we will have to discuss the issue at the upcoming board meeting. If the board approves, we will send the proposal to the Uttar Pradesh government for final approval.”

According to sources, floor-wise registry will benefit property owners immensely as they will be able to transfer their properties to blood relatives without seeking approval or paying money to the authority.

“Currently, if we want to divide our property among our heirs, we face legal issues since the properties are on leasehold. Once they are converted to freehold, we can transfer floor-wise property title to each person. It should be allowed at the earliest,” AN Dhawan, general secretary, federation of Noida RWAs’ association (FONRWA), said.

At present, one can construct four floors on a plot but cannot executive registry sale or purchase of each floor.

Noida’s urban area is carved out on 15,279.90 hectares of the 20,316 hectares acquired from 81 villages. A population of 16 lakh people resides in Noida.