Mumbai: Tenants of nearly 10,000 buildings can now heave a sigh of relief, as the housing department of the state government and the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation have relaxed a few conditions, giving them ownership rights. For the past 30 years, tenants lived without an Occupancy Certificate (OC), but now, with the relaxed conditions, residents will get ownership rights and also get their buildings regularised by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation.
Gautam Chatterjee, chairman of the Maharashtra Real Estate Regulatory Authority (MahaRERA) said, the state government has already issued a government resolution stating housing societies will not require an OC to get the deemed conveyance. Conveyance of property means, the transfer of the rights and ownership of the property from the seller to the purchaser. There are cases wherein even after selling the flats, some developers have not transferred the ownership of the plot. This deters housing societies from redevelopment.
Previously, until the original architect of a particular building had issued the NOC, residents could not apply for an OC. In cases where the original architect was not alive or had moved abroad, it was a challenge for the residents to acquire an OC. Many redevelopment projects in the city were stuck because of this condition.
