Self-redevelopment soon to be prefered choice by most: Housing expert Chandrashekhar Prabhu

Housing expert Chandrashekhar Prabhu has said that self-redevelopment will soon be the preferred choice of most societies in the city. For now, Samadhan building located in Bandra east will be one of the very few buildings located on Mhada land that have decided to go self-redevelopment.

The society began the process of redevelopment back in 2010 and finally managed to get a developer by 2013. The process later got stuck because the government was yet to decide on the policy of whether to charge a premium or take housing stock, for granting MHADA NOC to the society. Last year, the government finalised on the policy charging a premium in some cases, while charging housing stock in other.

The total expenditure for the redevelopment including construction would amount to Rs 70 crore, which the society is trying to loan. "We will get bigger homes, and even good money as corpus for the society. Our house areas will increase to above 900 sq ft from the current 220 sq ft," said Bhalchandra Devadiga, secretary, Samadhan.

Meanwhile, Vaidya claims that the society members were in dilemma after the developer was out of the picture. They then fixed a meeting with housing expert, Chandrashekhar Prabhu after which the decision on self-redevelopment was agreed upon by all stakeholders.

"While the builders promised to give them (residents) only over 500 sq ft, they will now get between 900 and 1000 sq ft. Moreover, the corpus will be more than double of what the builders promised. The movement is catching up and soon self-redevelopment will be the most preferred mode chosen by societies," said Chandrashekhar Prabhu.

Prabhu, explaining why people go for self-redevelopment, said, "More area, better planning, better quality construction, more corpus, no power of attorney to be given to anyone, no irrevocable consents to be given to outsiders, extra areas to be purchased at discounted prices, flats for blood relations at discounted rates, timely completion, possession remains with society, timely and guaranteed rent payments."

Samadhan society's neighbouring building, Vaidya society members are also looking at the option of self-redevelopment.

Her further added that most societies, which take up self-redevelopment, do not go to the developers as they have seen other societies suffer due to the cheating and lies perpetuated by builders. Self-redevelopment is the first option for most of them.