Office rentals shoot up in Mumbai

With Nariman Point and Bandra-Kurla Complex reportedly commanding the highest office rentals, Mumbai is giving competition to Manhattan, but this surge has come after a decade-long slump, reports Shiv Kumar

After more than a decade of sluggishness, rentals of commercial property in Mumbai’s main business districts have begun to rise again.

Nariman Point, India’s golden mile, had lost its lustre throughout the late 1990s and well into the new millennium. The dot-com bust of 2000 saw huge amounts of office space at Nariman Point come into the market thereby causing a slump in rental value. According to real estate agents, many of these companies, fattened on lavish venture capital funding, had booked spacious offices all of which were released when the market went kaput.

The dotcom bust coincided with an economic slump that lasted till around 2004. Though the economy began to look upward, the real estate market in Mumbai’s costliest locations took time to take off. “To begin with offices in Mumbai had begun to shift to the suburbs in order to remain closer to their employees,” says Abhijit Chavan, a real estate broker operating in South Mumbai.

So newer regions of Mumbai that were predominantly residential opened up for commercial operations. The Bandra-Kurla Complex, envisaged as the city’s alternative commercial hub came alive in this decade drawing hordes of industries from areas like Nariman Point in South Mumbai and Worli in South Central Mumbai. The mill-lands of Central Mumbai which, though well located yet lacking civic infrastructure, also became a viable alternative as corporates moved out of the old hubs.

But what shook the market was the emergence of the Business Process Outsourcing companies that sprouted all over the city. Suddenly suburban Malad became happening as scores of offices came up. To service the young and well-heeled crowd, scores of service companies came up in the vicinity thereby uplifting the profile of the neighborhood.

After the Ambanis discovered Navi Mumbai, the satellite city that was growing cobwebs for the past three decades, the area got a new lease of life. Suddenly real estate in Mumbai is happening. With major real estate companies picking up plots of land for huge amounts of money, cost of finished buildings are on the rise thereby pushing up rentals.

With banks and financial institutions setting up shop in a big way in Mumbai, the demand for office space is increasing, say real estate agents. Real estate developers like Indiabulls, DLF, Peninsula and even companies like the Future group are converting malls into offices to cater to the demand. Among the malls that could go the office way include a planned high-end retail hotspot planned at the Elphinstone Mills in Central Mumbai. The property being developed by Indiabulls Real Estate will be leased out to international banks and broking houses, say sources. Crossroads, the first mall that opened in Mumbai, will also be an office-cum-shopping complex. The property purchased by the Future Group from the Piramal group will house shops at the ground floor and offices above. According to the ‘Office Space Across the World 2008’ report published by real estate services firm Cushman & Wakefield, Mumbai ranks fourth after London, Hong Kong and Tokyo as one of the most expensive places to rent office space. Mumbai’s Bandra-Kurla Complex and Nariman Point are once again ahead of New York, Tokyo and other landmark destinations of the world.

Rentals at the Bandra-Kurla Complex are rising the fastest in the country - 80 per cent in the past year. Today, rentals rule at around Rs 425 per sq ft per month. Rentals are calculated on a super-built up basis and not on carpet area basis. Real estate owners usually add 40 per cent of the area to the carpet area to arrive at the super-built up valuations.

Is correction in the offing?

Leading global real estate consultant CB Richard Ellis (CBRE) does not expect any major correction happening in the market and says the prices are likely to remain the same throughout this year.

“I do not see any major correction happening in 2008 due to very good demand and expect the rentals to remain stable,” CBRE Chairman and Managing Director (South Asia) Anshuman Magazine told PTI.

He said though there is supply coming in, but it is less than the demand.

“On paper, supply is coming in, but in terms of physical delivery, it is different and we will have to wait till the end of the year to have a clear picture,” he said.

Another global consultant, Cushman & Wakefield (C&W), however, sees the high rentals coming down either by the end of the year or early 2009 as fresh supply of office space would make the current rentals unsustainable.

“...high rental values witnessed across the country will not be sustainable beyond 12 months given the significant IT supply planned to enter the market during 2008," C&W Executive Managing Director (South Asia, Australia and New Zealand) Sanjay Verma said in its recent report on global office spaces.

“During 2008, Delhi is expected to see continued demand for IT SEZ space with pre commitments, to avail tax sops. In the short to medium term, the rentals and capital values are expected to remain stable,” it said.

The CBRE report viewed that for corporate office space, the prevailing trend of too much demand chasing limited supply is unlikely to witness any dramatic changes through the course of 2008.

“Since much of the supply has been pre committed, rentals are expected to continue heading northwards, although not at the rate witnessed during 2007,” it said. — PTI

Housing Board walks the people-friendly path with its new flat-transfer policy
Property ownership in Chandigarh
SIMPLIFIED
Aditi Tandon

The Chandigarh Housing Board (CHB) has finally decided to change with the times. In a major pro-people move, it has decided to make property transactions in the city hassle-free by allowing mutual sale and purchase of dwelling units by allottees. Until now, the transfer of CHB flats in Chandigarh was based on the general power of attorney, a system rife with defects and legal complications.

But all that is now passé, with the board of directors of CHB deciding on February 20 to make their flat transfer policy people-friendly and transparent. The new move will benefit a substantial number of about 50,000 owners/allottees of CHB dwelling units in the city, and will change the way property transactions are carried out in the region. Most importantly, it will offer relief to people whose properties have been lying blocked for years due to legal wrangles.

The CHB, ever since it came into existence in 1971, has been a witness to countless problems posed by GPA transfer policy. Due to stringent laws governing the sale and purchase of residential property in Chandigarh , a majority of allottees had resorted to sale through general power of attorney.

Since initially the CHB did not recognise GPA, property transaction through this system led to several complications including legal battles between the original allottees and buyers on the one hand and original allottees and the CHB on the other. This often led to blackmailing by allottees or their legal heirs who found it convenient to extract money from interested buyers of residential property. This was besides the hefty premium which buyers paid to allottees/sellers.

The practice naturally allowed property dealers to mushroom and make hay as they negotiated deals between various parties and charged heavily in the guise of completing endless formalities besides charging their commission. The GPA transfer system had bred corruption in the ranks of CHB, particularly in public-dealing branches.

Keeping in mind these complication, the CHB had, in 2001, come out with a policy to regularise GPA sale by fixing charges for the transfer of property by original allottees besides also fixing terms and conditions like clearance of dues, retention of original structure of the dwelling unit, respect for building bylaws etc. The regularisation of GPA, however, helped little, with buyers of residential units continuing to face harassment.

The new mutual transfer policy will bring buyers and sellers face to face for the first time and eliminate the role of middlemen like property dealers. The move will also end the nexus between property dealers and officials by allowing genuine buyers and sellers to own property in a legal way.

Besides, it is expected to bring revenue to Chandigarh Administration as transactions would involve the payment of stamp duty and other prescribed charges. Until now, stamp duty worth crores was being evaded in the name of large scale sale and purchase of CHB flats through GPA. The new policy will protect the financial interests of Chandigarh Administration besides being people-friendly.

Meanwhile, the board had said GPAs taken to date would be acceptable till the time the new policy came into effect. It has added, however, that people would eventually have to own property on the terms and conditions specified in the mutual transfer policy.

Further in a bid to curb speculation, the CHB has categorically said that GPA holders will no longer be eligible to apply for flats in any of its residential project schemes. Residential property, say board officials, must go to the shelter-less people. The board has meanwhile also allowed transfer of residential property in Chandigarh on the basis of one surety. Earlier two sureties were required.

Resurgent city

Badarpur flyover is likely to remove a major roadblock in the growth of real estate in Faridabad, reports Ravi S. Singh

The announcement made by the Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda that the work on flyover at Badarpur border (from Delhi side) would start by middle of this year has sent the property prices soaring in the city. Although the construction of the flyover, which will serve as a lifeline for Faridabad, has been hanging fire for a long time, the Chief Minister’s assurance has cleared air on the issue.

Faridabad is among the oldest industrial cities of the region. It was, in fact, the vanguard of industrialisation in northern India. More than two decades back it was Haryana’s happening town. But the all round development hit a plateau and other centres like Gurgaon surged ahead and caught the fancy of government, planners and builders.

While Gurgaon overtook Faridabad in terms of glitz and glamour of international living standards, other centres like Sonepat entered the race and still others started getting ready for it.

With the march of modernisation and urbanisation happening at various centres in the state, Faridabad, barring its established industrial units, slipped from its advantageous position. But now the city is also getting the much-needed attention of the state government and Badarpur flyover is a vital component of it.

There were some bottlenecks that were deterring the evolution of Faridabad as a world class destination. Connectivity with Delhi has been considered the major bottleneck that has kept potential investors away from Faridabad keeping the real estate prices stagnant.

Perennial traffic jams at Badapur border make commuting a pain for people who have to wait for several hours to travel to and fro from Delhi. The Badarpur flyover project will address the connectivity problem in a big way mainly with areas like Connaught Place, South Extension and Nehru Place.

After the completion of the flyover a person commuting from South Delhi will hit NIT in Faridabad in about 45 minutes, whereas at present the amount of time for which one would be stuck in a traffic jam is just a matter of luck on a particular day.

The hope of the flyover getting ready appears to have broken the realty prices logjam, what with prices suddenly increasing in the past one month.

Just about a month ago price in HUDA’s residential Sector 45 was about Rs 19,000 per sq yd and now it has increased to more than Rs 23,000 per sq yd. In Sector 11, the price was around Rs 18,000 per sq yd. Now it is about Rs 25,000 per sq yd. In Sector 14 and 15, the price earlier was about Rs 25,000 per sq yd and has touched about Rs 35,000 in just about a month.

The wide-ranging feeling is that the prices will jump several fold once the foundation stone of the flyover project is laid. However, there are many who do not agree with this theory and are of the strong view that as in Gurgaon, a lobby in the government, land mafia and builders’ groups were trying to hike the prices due to vested interests.

Skepticism apart, now with the government taking steps to address the infrastructure bottlenecks the city is surely going to come up as the next destination in the NCR region.

India among top three global realty markets

India’s booming realty sector has attracted foreign investors and figures in the top three property markets, offering the best opportunity for capital appreciation after the US and China.

In the league of the most preferred property market among foreign investors globally, USA has retained its top position, while China was ranked second followed by India, a survey conducted by the Association of Foreign Investors in Real Estate (AFIRE) said. China moved to the second place, garnering 21.4 per cent votes and displacing India in the process, which was preferred only by 16.7 per cent of the respondents favouring the country as the most fancied place for real estate investment.

In 2006, China got 14.6 per cent votes while India had 18 per cent and was ranked in the second position.

One of the significant findings that cannot be overlooked is the jump in investors confidence in China. For the second time in three years, China has been voted as the country offering the second best chance for capital appreciation after the USA, AFIRE Chief Executive James A Fetgatter said.

Interestingly, the United States, whose economy continues to be bogged down by the sub-prime crisis and faces the threat of a recession, still managed to retain the the ‘most preferred destination’ tag for real estate investment.

The annual survey respondents included nearly 200 members of the association and was conducted in the fourth quarter of 2007, after the credit crunch and sub-prime mortgage crisis.

Among those surveyed, 26.2 per cent said America offered the best opportunity for capital appreciation in the real estate sector as compared to 23 per cent recorded in 2006.

Collectively, AFIRE members hold $700 billion of cross-border real estate investments, including $230 billion in the USA. Globally, the spending on real estate is projected to touch $1.692 billion this year, a more than 20 per cent jump from an expenditure of $1.394 billion in 2007.

Meanwhile, the US, Germany, the UK, Australia and Japan have emerged as the most stable and secure countries for real estate investments, said the survey. Further, the top five global cities preferred by foreign investors for real estate investments are New York, London Washington, Paris and Shanghai. — PTI

Credai NCR, IP varsity tie up to offer realty courses

Credai NCR has entered into a strategic tie-up with Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University (GGSIU) to offer professional courses and research opportunities to students interested in taking up a career in the booming real estate sector.

“We have signed an MoU where both the parties will identify areas of common interest by mutual consent for studies and research and disseminate knowledge jointly through teaching, research programmes and consultancy works,” Credai NCR President Pradeep Jain said.

They will also organise training and research programmes, seminars, conferences, workshops on issues related to real estate and other identified areas of common interest, he added.

Jain said they will also set up a Centre for Research in Real Estate and Infrastructure Development (CRREID), which will offer professional courses and research opportunities to students.

Credai, the Delhi-NCR chapter of Confederation of Real Estate Developers Association of India, will make special efforts to make the course content relevant by ensuring mandatory internships and training in the industry.

“The students pursuing courses at the CRREID will have a chance to work on real-life infrastructure and real estate development projects to get hands-on experience of the intricacies involved,” said Jain.

GGSIU is already running an MBA course in real estate through University School of Management Studies.

GGSIU and Credai NCR will also allow access to each others’ library resources; exchange publications, newsletters and journals and assist each other in the publication of any reports relating to real estate. — PTI

GROUND REALTY
KICK CLUTTER out of kitchen

The choice of right accessories goes a long way in getting a smart kitchen, says Jagvir Goyal

Here are some more tips on kitchen accessories to make it a really effective, clutter and smoke-free, time saving and hygienic:

Materials: Use phenol-bonded waterproof plywood for kitchen cabinets. Block board is often used but it swells up due to moisture. The best option is to use powder-coated aluminium framework and wooden laminate panels in shutters. Have lamination on both faces and thus eliminate the dangers of termite attack, stains, chemicals, spills and moisture. Moreover, abundant color choice is available in laminates. If you are choosing natural wood surface laminates, get these polished with melamine. Avoid the use of enamel paint on cabinets as its patches tend to come off after coming in contact with water.

Sinks: There is an increased trend of using stainless steel sinks in the kitchen. Look for AISI 304 standard stainless steel. See that the thickness is not less than 1.5 mm. Most of the stainless steel sinks available in the market are only 8 to 9 inch deep and this depth is not sufficient for Indian kitchens keeping in view the cookers and karahis used by Indians. Splashing of water is also there. Of course, stainless steel sinks are a good buy today but always look for deeper sinks. Attention of major firms like Hindware, Franke, Blanco, Nirali, Neelkanth, Jayna has been drawn towards this important aspect and a modification is expected. Look for seamless sinks that are free from cavities, rust and dirt. Selecting gloss or matt finish, however, depends on one’s personal choice.

Sink accessories: While choosing stainless steel sink, choose double-bowl single mixer sink. These days, even corner sinks with two bowls at right angles and a central drain board are available. The tap is in the centre which can be turned towards any bowl. Such sinks may save a lot of space. Look for a removable vegetable washing bowl. See if the sink is sound-deadened by providing a pad on its underside. Such a sink will not produce noise during the cleaning of utensils. Some sinks come with a lifetime guarantee. Prefer these as the companies attend to complaints to save their reputation. Also prefer to have a built in garbage bin with the sink.

Storage space: Avoid having a cluttered kitchen. Add some important accessories to your kitchen. Use CP steel wire or cane baskets, spice racks and pullout breakfast counter. Baskets may be right-angled drawer baskets, trolley type and corner units. Have a corner storage unit. Utility wise, provide separate baskets for vegetables, cups and saucers, trays, bottles, cutlery, detergents, clothes and thalis. Choose between fold-up pantry or pull out pantry as convenient. Ask the modular kitchen supplier to create some pull out shelves, a grain store and a kitchen cart. Avoid hanging baskets. Add a drip tray to the dish rack. Always have a ladle cradle provided on a wall. Built in Hobs and ovens can be chosen if you don’t want to use your present gas stove and oven. Use cockroach traps in floor traps to keep the kitchen clean and free of them.

Chimney: Provide an electric chimney in your kitchen. Let the Electric chimney or cooking hood be of Faber (Italy), Kaff (Italy) or Cata (Italy) or Hind. Most important aspect of a chimney is that it should not get clogged after sometime. In India, it is a real challenge for chimney makers. Some chimneys are provided with charcoal filters and baffle filters to take care of this problem. These filters trap the grease particles and can be washed off after sometime. Note that charcoal filter is required only in such chimneys which recycle the kitchen air and are not connected to a duct or pipe to throw the air out. For chimneys connected to a duct, no charcoal filter is required and only baffle filter is provided. Further, charcoal filters need replacement after every three to four months. It is therefore better to choose a chimney with duct mode instead of recycling mode. Look for required suction capacity, low power consumption and minimum noise as other aspects of chimneys. Power consumption should be about 1 unit per 10 hours. Look for a lifetime warranty. Some companies are now adding a pest repellent as an additional feature to kitchen hoods or chimneys. This is a good feature, so choose a model having this as additional feature.

Finer points: Avoid use of cloth curtains on kitchen windows. Use Venetian blinds if required. Provide clear glass panes in kitchen door to maintain connectivity with the adjacent room. Always provide perforated shutters to the shelf accommodating the gas cylinder. Accommodate the geyser and aqua guard in a cabinet near the sink. Provide swivel wheels to all trolleys accommodated in the base cabinet below the worktop. Provide a switch board above the worktop with separate sockets for microwave, mixer blender, toaster and food processor. Let the leads be inserted there permanently and you need not pull out one and insert other every time you run an appliance.

Trash masher: To add perfection to your kitchen, provide a trash masher to the sink. This unique item brought to India by Hindware helps in easy cleaning of kitchen and keeping the drain pipes clog free. Electrically operated trash masher consumes hardly two to three units per month and is fitted to the sink with a 4 inch diameter waste hole. A coupling is used for the purpose. Once the sink tap is turned on and trash masher is switched on, it mashes all the waste food in the sink in half a minute, makes a curry of it and disposes it off into the drain. Cost of different models of Trash Masher varies from Rs 5000 to Rs 7,000. The item looks worth its cost as the problem of manually taking out the fragments of food, vegetables, tea particles etc from the sink waste is eliminated.

Have a nice kitchen. Happy Cooking!

The author is Director Estates, PSEB and can be reached at www.jagvirgoyal.com

Asian REITs may touch market cap of $100 b by 2010

Asian Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) are expected to touch a market capitalisation of $100 billion by 2010, industry body Assocham said. REITs, which currently account for 10.6 per cent of the global share, would further grow to $500 billion in another 8-10 years, the chamber said in a paper “REIT Proposition”.

The market capitalisation of REITs in Asia was around $2 billion in 2001 and $ 50 billion in 2005-06. Presently, the market cap of 83 Asia-based REITs is about $ 87 billion. In Asia, REITs provide a rate of return of 22.6 per cent.

Assocham said if proper REITs legislation is put in place in the country, the growth would be phenomenal. “India has the potential to promote REITs to provide housing facilities to its masses, provided suitable legislations with positive guidelines are brought out by Indian government to regulate REITs,” Assocham president Venugopal Dhoot said. India and China are looking forward to the introduction of REITs laws, he said, adding that the capital gain tax on sale of assets of REITs should be waived off and stamp duty paid by such trust be converted into VAT. — PTI

Realty Bytes

Parsvnath-Royal Orchid tie-up

Mumbai: Bangalore-based Royal Orchid Hotels Ltd (ROHL) will set up a Rs 50-million joint venture firm with Parvsnath Hotels to develop new properties. The company informed the Bombay Stock Exchange that Parvsnath Hotels, which is a wholly owned subsidiary of realty firm Parvsnath Developers, will hold majority stakes in the venture named Parvsnath Royal Orchid Hotels Pvt Ltd. The joint venture will develop 10 hotels, including five-star and four-star hotels, ROHL’s Company Secretary A. Someswara Rao told IANS. The new firm would also build resorts and service apartments, he said. These projects, comprising a total of 1,000 rooms, will be completed in 5 years, a company official said. — IANS

DLF buildings to have Wi-Fi system

New Delhi: Leading real estate developer DLF will implement Wi-Fi in all its buildings across India, enabling its occupants to get an access to enterprise standard connectivity. The Wi-Fi services would be provided by wireless broadband provider O-Zone networks Ltd, DLF said in a statement. “DLF’s commitment to Wi-Fi demonstrates the importance of this technology to business customers who need fast, convenient access wherever they are,” DLF Commercial Chairman A.S Minocha said. — PTI

Alchemist Realty’s plans for North

New Delhi: Real estate firm Alchemist Realty Ltd will invest over Rs 5,000 crore in the next 7-10 years for developing a land bank of 10,600 acres. “Currently, we have a land bank of 10,600 acres across the country, mainly in the northern states. We plan to invest about Rs 5,000 crore in the next 7-10 years to develop different projects,” Alchemist Realty Ltd CEO Pran Khanna told PTI. The company plans to develop integrated townships, resorts, hotels and restaurants on its land bank, he said. Alchemist Realty proposes to open a chain of speciality restaurants in northern India under ‘Red Cap’ brand. “At first, we will open 20 restaurants in two years in northern states. The size of the outlets would vary from 3,200 sq ft to 6,500 sq ft. The first two restaurants would be opened in Delhi within next two months, he added. Khanna said the company would also develop over 1,000 high-end housing units by 2010. The company would construct luxury villas on nine acres of land in Shimla and an IT park at Chandigarh. — PTI

L&T eyes $ 2 b business from Gulf

Dubai: Engineering and construction major Larsen and Toubro Ltd (L&T) has said it is targeting a business of two billion dollars from the Gulf region in the next 2-3 years. The company has nearly one billion dollars worth of projects in infrastructure, power and hydrocarbon sectors in the Gulf and Middle-East regions, which it wants to double to two billion dollars in the next 2-3 years, L&T President (operations) Jagdish P. Nayak told PTI. The focus on Gulf and the Middle-East regions comes as a part of our strategy to expand L&T’s footprint outside India. The Middle East region is the company’s top priority, Nayak added. “At present, around 18 per cent of L&T’s total revenues come from international operations, out of which a huge chunk come from the region. We want to increase it to 25 per cent in three years and 30 per cent by 2015,” he added. — PTI

TAX TIPS
Get a will made to avoid disputes in future
By S.C. Vasudeva

Q. My father who has no income of his own has made some investment in property out of the money taken from me and my sister as a gift. Now my father wants that this property should get transferred in my name after his death. I would like to know what are the formalities, if any, required to be completed for this and whether a Will or some other documentation is required.

— Sanjiv Dhar

A. From the facts of the query it is evident that your father would like the property to be transferred to you after his death. This can be done by your father by making a Will in your favour which will be effective after his death. It would be better if the Will is attested by your sister as a witness to your father’s signatures. This would avoid any dispute in future.

Not getting copy of  sale deed

Q. I have sold my HUDA plot for Rs 19 lakh about seven months back. The purchaser has paid the whole amount to me but he is yet to send me a photocopy of the sale deed. I have been requesting him to send me the photocopy of sale deed for the past six months but to no avail. As per IT rules I have to show the details of the deal in my IT return. Now, how can I get the duplicate copy.

— Reetoo Sharma

A. A duplicate copy of the sale deed can be obtained from the Sub-Registrar’s office where the sale deed had been registered in respect of the sale of your plot for Rs 19 lakh. This would involve the payment of some charges in accordance with the specified rules. The obtaining of a duplicate sale deed should not pose a problem as you are a party to the sale deed.

Loan repayment and legal hassles

Q. My father retired from government service and has settled down in Kolkata. He purchased a piece of land and started construction on it. As at that time we were not financially well off, he needed a housing loan to complete the construction of the ground floor. Being a retired person banks were reluctant to give a loan to him. So my elder brother, who is also a government servant, took a bank loan of Rs 1 lakh by mortgaging the land. Here the principal applicant was my brother and the co-applicant was my father. The construction of the ground floor was over. The installments of the loan amount were being paid by my father to my brother from his pension amount, and in turn my brother used to pay the installment amount to the bank through cheques drawn in his name. I started helping my parents financially to construct the first floor of the house. I spent an amount of Rs 7 lakh for the completion of the first floor oblivious of the legal problems. My brother may have spent a nominal amount which I am not much aware of. In the meanwhile, in order to get a reduced rate of interest from the banks (being competitive market), my brother switched the remaining loan amount from the existing bank to another private bank. However, this time the loan amount was increased from the remaining balance amount by adding another 70,000 to it. This time the loan amount stood at Rs 1.5 lakh. This time also the installment amount is being paid by my father to my brother as an understanding between them, and my brother in turn submits the cheque for the payment of installment to the designated bank. He is still paying the EMIs. Though my father can now afford to repay the balance amount, he is very reluctant to do that. My question now is that:

(i) What is the position as regards the inheritance of the property in question?

(ii) What legal problems can arise?

(iii) Can my brother claim that he has constructed both floors of the house by taking loans from different banks at different periods of time?

(iv) What should be done so that the matter can be amicably resolved without any legal hassles?

— Debajit Kumar Roy

A. The reply to your queries is as under:

(i) The property of a male Hindu dying intestate (i.e. without making a Will) devolves according to the provisions of Section 8 of the Hindu Succession Act, 1956. Such property firstly devolves upon Class I legal heirs. This includes son, daughter, widow, mother, son of a pre-deceased son, daughter of a pre-deceased son, son of a pre-deceased daughter, daughter of a pre-deceased daughter etc. etc. It is a long list which can be looked into by reference to the aforesaid section.

(ii) So long it can be proved that the repayment of the loan was made by your father to your brother to make the onward payment to the bank, it should not pose any legal problem and your brother would not be able to claim that he made the repayment of the loan for the construction of the house.

(iii) It will be better for your father to decide the issue with regard to the inheritance of the house in his lifetime. He can make a Will about such inheritance. Your brother and yourself can be signatories as witness to your father’s signatures in such a Will. This should avoid a dispute between brothers in future. He can also make a gift of the house to any person of his choice during his life time. I would, however, advise that the making of a Will on the lines suggested herein is a better option.

Share in grandfather’s property

Q. I am 34-year-old unmarried woman living along with my four married brothers. The house in which we are staying was the self-acquired property of my grandfather. My father did not have any residential property in his name and he expired in 2002. My grandfather had willed this house in name of my four brothers only. I need to know that according to recent amendments in the Hindu Succession Act, can I claim for my share in this house or not? I have contacted some legal consultants and got to know from them that I cannot claim a share in this property as this is my grandfather’s property not my father’s. Does this Act apply only to ancestral property and not to self-acquired property? Am I not entitled to live in this house even? Even if law does not debar me to live in this house until it is sold, can my brothers claim any kind of charges from me in the form of sharing electricity and water bills?

Moreover, my brothers have not been successful in getting this house transferred in their names as they were told that there was no registry of this house in the name of my grandfather. However, in municipal records this house is in the name of my grandfather and also they require some affidavits of no objection from me, my elder sister and children of my paternal aunts (since my paternal aunts have expired), according to the new amendments. Do they really need these affidavits according to the law? I want to know if I don’t have any kind of share then why do my brothers need an affidavit from me and others?

— Meenakshi Kashyap

A. The reply to your query is based on the presumption that the property willed by your grandfather was his self-acquired property. It has been stated in the query that the residential property was willed by your grandfather to his four grandsons. The provisions of Hindu Succession Act 1956 would come into force if a Hindu male had not made a Will and had died intestate. In case a validly executed Will by your grandfather is in existence, the residential property would be inherited by your four brothers.

The requirement of your, your sister’s and children of your father’s sister’s consent for the mutation of property in the name of four brothers seems to have arisen on account of non-availability of the sale deed in favour of your grandfather and possibly due to non-availability of a validly executed Will of your grandfather in favour of your four brothers. In case my presumption is correct, the inheritance would be covered by the provisions of Hindu Succession Act, 1956 applicable to a person dying intestate. In such a case your right to the aforesaid property would depend upon the share of your father in the said property on the basis of Section 8 of the aforesaid Act. I would, however, suggest that you should consult a civil lawyer who will be able to guide you properly in this regard.

The writer can be contacted at sc@scvasudeva.com