Hiranandani upscale builders, Chennai

Hiranandani Realtors, when they came to Chennai announcing their township on the prestigious OMR Road in Egattur, people in Chennai were thrilled and rushed to book themselves a flat or at least to enquire about it!  Some of them had seen the project of the builder in Powai, Mumbai and other places.

As usual, when the customer approaches,  the builder offers only those flats which will find the least preference amongst the buyers and the flats that you want seriously comes with a premium on one pretext or the other saying its East facing or corner one or facing sea or facing club house etc..

Somehow, you want to be a part of this "considered Prestigious" group and settle for one that suits your requirements or in other words the apartment is thrust ed upon you by the young, charming sales group of the builder!

Everything is charged upfront by the builder saying that the facility that will be created will be like magic kingdom that will be world class!  You are robbed upfront for the club house, corpus fund, advance maintenance for 18 months at a pre determined high rate etc..  The construction agreement is so cunningly designed that you fail to read in between lines and forced to sign on dotted lines just in an enthusiasm to be part of this "prestigious living"?  you have no choice either!  You end up paying a neat Rs 25000/- towards advocate charges as well for signing on an agreement that is well prepared in favour of the builder, line by line binding us to forgo even the undivided share of property in the common area which normally belongs to the owner!  You are assured of copious ground water supply citing the lake in the back ground that keeps recharging the water table and reassured of ever lasting water supply.  The promise of fresh air is one thing that they are unable to cheat and thanks to mother nature!  Very cleverly, the builder erects boundaries concealing the crematorium that is hidden behind the structures to which the villagers around have an access and which can not be objected by the residents or the builder!  It is said that atleast there is one or two cremations everyday in this facility thats is adjoining the Hiranandani school and within the boundaries of living.

The building is ready for possession after a delay of nearly 18 months and when you ask for compensation for the delay in handing over, the staff promptly points out reasons such as recession in Economy, strike in some steel or cement plant, floods, fire, change in political scenario and everything that happened in the country because of which the building process slowed down!  On the other hand, they rightfully charge overdue interest on delayed EMI payments made by you.  If you resist or object, the property is not handed over and having spent several lacs through your nose, you deem it fit to at least take possession of the flat despite certain loss of capital thinking the value will appreciate sooner than later!

The Economy slides into recession mode and a family dispute between the brother and the sister of Hiranandani becomes inevitable and the project becomes an orphan with promoters  trying to milch everything that is possible out of the available resources.  The best way to generate more income is to squeeze the residents to pay more and more for the amenities which falls within the ambit of maintenance!  Hiranandani says that the club house charges are mainly for building the club house and if you want to utilise then you have to pay monthly maintenance over and above the general maintenance charged!  The corpus fund is not for the benefit of residents but for maintaining peripheral roads that goes within the complex!  The swimming pool subscription is payable on yearly basis in advance.  The story is endless and the residents are forced to face a war like situation.
Some people with guts and will to fight the builder have joined and formed individual associations for each tower and trying to contain or minimise the maintenance charges for the benefit of residents.
The builder wanted a whooping Rs4.50 /sq ft towards maintenance where as the association have fixed a private agency for RS 3.50/sq ft.  On hearing that the residents have decided to form their own association, the builder indulged in cheap tricks such as switching off the lifts by sabotage that left the top floor occupants high and dry!  The gen sets and other motors to pump water are in bad condition and requires AMC to function.  There is absolutely no water supply and requirements are bought through water tankers every day.  These are some of the several hardships caused and created by the so called reputed group of Hiranandani Realtors!

The association is contemplating to file suit against the builder for all such violations and hardships caused to the residents and creating hurdles for a smooth transition for control.  So much so that even the common area that is supposed to be part of undivided share of land for the owners is not given and eaten away by the builder.  The owner is now entitled only for the undivided share of his plinth area of the flat which is legally not right.  The worst part is that the Hiranandani school management have dismissed some teachers just because they happened to be part of  association formed by the residents revolting against the builders who are trying to arm twist the residents to cough up more and more for every facility and maintenance.

This blog is created only with a view to educate innocent investors wanting to invest in High rise buildings and particularly in Hiranandani upscale who are constantly advertising for their new upcoming projects in the same vicinity.  I appeal to all those people not to fall prey to such allurements and be matured enough to tackle things and understand the same clearly before entering into such agreements with such so called reputed builders, be it Chennai or in any part of the country.

I appeal to the Urban development Ministry to form guidelines for such building and construction activities bearing in mind the middle class investor or buyer who dumps all his money and takes home loan just to have Good living but ends up shattered with such happenings that's real in this realty sector!

Mugging /way laying in the heart of Kualalumpur

I and my wife decided to take a short break and decided to go to Kualalumpur. Air Asia was giving cheap tickets to travel and we rightly thought of using the same. On 20th August, 2014 around 2.45 pm,  We checked ourselves in Sunway Putra Hotel, 100 Jalan Putra which is supposed to be the heart of the city and adjoining PWTC metro station which was convenient to travel economically and faster.

We decided to go for some sight seeing and shopping, after a cup of self made tea and took the Metro to "Sogo" which was just 2 stations away from Jalan Putra PWTC station. We spent some good time going around the shopping area and bought a few clothes from Sogo.  We returned the same way by taking a Metro train and got down at PWTC around 7.40 pm.

The Hotel is just next door as you get down the ramp of the Metro station.  The Mall is under renovation and re construction and as such only a small narrow passage of the hotel is open for public because of which there is hardly any traffic flow into the hotel or coming out of it. The place is isolated.

As I was walking towards the Hotel that had barricaded the entire area with enclosures and kept only a small narrow entrance to the Hotel steps, a car suddenly pulled up and a man who could be in his early 30s peeped out of the window in the front and called me with a paper in his hand.  I thought he was asking for some address, like people ask in India, and went near his car to tell him that I am a Tourist on visit, when he pushed himself back into the car and showed me an Identity card that had a caption "Police" and talked to me very rudely and with authority saying that he was a secret police and that he was looking for some drug peddlers and fake currency racket.  He further asked me if I was an Indian or a Pakistani to which I replied that I am an Indian tourist.  With rudeness and scant respect in his voice he asked me where I was staying?  I showed him the hotel right behind me(Sunway Putra) and told him that he could come with me to the hotel and verify.  He was so impolite and rude that he asked me to show my shopping bag which he smelled and returned back after scrutiny.  Next he asked me to show my purse and I promptly gave him my purse from the pocket without realising the fact that I was mesmerised by then and forced to follow his diktats.  My wife says that she even warned me not to give the purse to him but I did not pay heed to her warnings at all as I was under his control.  He scrutinised my purse and asked me if I was carrying any more cash and asked me to turn around and show my other pockets which I obeyed.  There were some more currency which was distributed in other pockets which I normally do when I go abroad just to escape pick-pockets.  The young looking man then asked my wife as to what was she carrying in her clutch and examined them too.  He gave back the purse and clutch after examining and smelling them like a sniffer dog for drugs and gave it back to me.  He said that he was doing all this for the sake of protection to tourists which, in turn, will protect them and sped past.  I was dazed and shell shocked and probably mesmerised by the man who showed some voodoo looking Identity card that had "Police" written on it.  He showed the card at least twice to me just to keep me under the cloud of mesmerising.  In the whole process, I lost all my money including 4x1000 Indian rupees.

The security guard of the hotel who was barely 30 ft away was not to be seen at all.  we complained to the Manager of the hotel situated on the 9th floor about the incident.  He immediately brought his General Manager and a couple of security men of the hotel and sympathised with us for the loss.  The GM who was also a Tamil offered to send his Manager along with the hotel car to the police if we wanted to lodge a complaint but also admonished us saying that it may take up to 5 hours at the station to finish the formalities and that we could be summoned by the police for further investigation in the following days too, meaning our so called holiday would be ruined.  He further said that Malaysian Police would always come in the Police car and never in Private vehicles. I told him to display an exhibit in the Hotel Lobby for the benefit of Tourists suggesting dos and dont's.

As a matter of consolation, the Hotel staff changed our room by upgrading it to an expensive suite without charges and also sent fruit bowl with compliments from the hotel just to wean us away from the trauma and shock resulting out of this incident.

What intrigues me is the fact that when the hotel is under renovation and when there is no public activity, why should the hotel sell their rooms to innocent tourists?  Even if they sell, should they not inform the tourists that the hotel is under renovation and also warn about possible way laying or mugging by disgruntled elements.  The hotel staff also were of the opinion that such incidents were on the increase in Kualalumpur and possibly planned and executed by some anti social disgruntled elements.  We were totally dis- illusion ed and shattered to learn about these developments and vowed never to go to Malaysia ever. Malaysian government must ensure adequate Protection to incoming tourists and keep them educated about such impostors and way laying by anti social elements lest they loose out on tourism which is already on the decline due to twin  disasters that occurred for MH airlines in the recent past.

All those Indian tourists who wish to go to Kualalumpur are hereby warned that such an incident could happen to them too and be  advised never to part groups and stay together and never pay heed to anyone asking for any help or direction lest you would be robbed and made poorer.  I am still trying to recover from this incident and nightmare and it will be quite some time for it to come to normalcy.