A recent change in a property law that almost went unnoticed promises to benefit a bevy of politicians residing at a posh locale in Worli interested in selling their astronomically priced flats.

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According to a circular released by the state revenue department last week, the government has significantly cut property transfer charges levied from high-profile homeowners at the sea-facing Sukhada and Shubhada cooperative housing societies.

DNA has a copy of the circular dated March 7.

The reason cited for the relaxation is the government wanted to bring uniformity in charging transfer charges from leasehold properties in Mumbai. The change also reflects the revised Development Rules, officials say.

Both the societies stand on land leased from the government in 2004. Most of the flat owners here are former and incumbent legislators and ministers from various parties, apart from senior bureaucrats. 

Until the nineties, for the sale of an apartment in these VIP societies, the seller had to pay 50 per cent of the difference between the amounts at which the flat was bought and sold. For instance, if a flat purchased at Rs 1 crore changed hands at Rs 7 crore, half of the difference, or a sum of Rs 3 crore, had to be paid to the government as transfer charges and unearned income.

But in 1999, said Mumbai collector Shivaji Jondhale, the state government struck down the '50 per cent of the difference payable to the government' clause for all leasehold properties in the city, barring Sukhada-Shubhda cooperative housing societies because it was built on government land.

But over the years, "we received a lot of complaints from society members who wanted us to bring uniformity while recovering the transfer charges. So the government decided to relax the clause," said Jondhale.

As per the new formula, if a person residing in the building for more than 15 years wants to sell their flat, they will have to pay Rs 400 per sq foot or 1.5 per cent of the Ready Reckoner (RR) rate to the government as transfer charges.

"For 10-year members, the transfer charge is Rs 600 per sq foot or 2 per cent of RR rate, while for five-year members, it is Rs 1,000 per sq ft or 3 per cent of the RR rate, whichever is more," Jondhale said.

Sukhada and Shubhada societies have seven multi-storey buildings housing more than 200 flats. When flats were bought on this property, they came as cheap as Rs 25 lakh for a single one-bedroom-hall-kitchen apartment and Rs 50 lakh for a 2BHK. The current market value of these flat is in the range of Rs 5-7 crore.

The politicians residing here are gleeful at the prospect of how much they stand to gain with the amended law. "The earlier government resolutions had discrepancies. We are happy that after all these years, it has been addressed," said Ashok Dhawad, the secretary of Sukhada cooperative housing society.

In 2015, the societies had come under the civic authority's scanner for illegal amalgamations of flats and unpaid property taxes.

Who's who at Sukhada-Shubhada

NCP's Ajit Pawar, Cong leader Vijay Darda (each owns 4,000 sq ft duplexes), state minister Sudhir Mungantiwar (BJP), state Cong chief Ashok Chavan, former union minister Shivraj Patil, Cong's Manikrao Thakre, NCP's Anil Deshmukh, BJP MLA Sunil Deshmukh are members of the housing societies