Home buyers now have more time to apply to the Delhi Development Authority's (DDA) 2017 housing scheme. The urban body on Wednesday extended the last date of applications for a month and also relaxed the forfeiture clause on surrendering of houses, as the scheme so far had received a lukewarm response.
Prospective buyers can now apply for the scheme till September 11. As against the earlier clause, no penalty will be levied if houses are surrendered within 15 days of allotment of demand letter. However, if houses are returned after 15 days of allotment of letter, 10 per cent of the registration amount will be forfeited.
Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal gave his nod to relaxation of the penalty amount. The DDA had sought time to review the situation, as for relaxing or removing of the forfeiture clause it had to be notified from the LG.
The scheme offering over 12,000 flats across all income categories was launched on June 30 with the last date as August 11. However, the urban body had received only 8,000 applications while only 75,000 forms were sold till August 8.
DNA had first reported that the urban body was mulling over relaxing the forfeiture clause, as owing to it banks were not ready to give loans on the registration amount.
According to officials, the forfeiture clause in this year's scheme had made banks wary of giving loans on the registration money. The banks' refusal to finance the registration amount has turned away many buyers.
"The banks' inability to give loans had discouraged many serious buyers. So, we have relaxed the penalty amount. It will ensure that banks finance the registration amount and it will attract more buyers who had lost interest because of the clause," said JP Agarwal, housing commissioner.
In a meeting held last month, banks had urged the housing authority to remove the clause of 25 per cent registration fee being forfeited.
The DDA had this year put a new clause of 25 per cent registration fee being confiscated if houses are returned after the draw of lots in order to make sure that buyers don't surrender the houses and that only 'serious buyers' come forward for the scheme.
The number of applications received and forms sold this year has been much less in comparison to the 2014 housing scheme. Over 11,000 houses in the new scheme are the flats which were returned in the 2014 housing scheme.
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