Telangana govt slashes the regularisation fee charges of property owners

Apart from offering a golden opportunity to regularise unauthorized layout and plots, the Telangana government has slashed the regularisation fee charges, providing the much-needed financial relief to these property owners.

The move to slash the regularisation fee is being hailed by one and all and is being welcomed by the real estate sector organizations members as well.

The CREDAI Telangana president G. Ram Reddy welcomed the move of the State government to reduce the regularisation fee and added, “this goes a long way in curbing the unauthorized layouts or plots. People will now be encouraged to regularise their layouts or plots by paying the requisite fee”.

“This move is futuristic. One should look at it as regularisation and streamlining things. The government will get some revenue through regularisation but that is not the key here,” said Reddy adding that the Telangana government was setting an example to other States with the move.

The State government on Thursday had issued orders amending certain clauses in the ‘Telangana Regularisation of Unapproved and Illegal Layout Rules 2020’ with regard to rates of regularisation making them same as what was provided in the previous Land Regularisation Scheme (LRS) of 2015.

As per the orders issued by Chief Secretary Somesh Kumar, the rules followed several requests made by the general public and public representatives that the regularisation charges specified in the ‘Telangana Regularisation of Unapproved and Illegal Layout Rules 2020’ were very high and requested the government to make them same as what was provided in the previous LRS scheme of 2015.

The government issued notification making following amendments: Regularisation charges for market value of the plot as on August 26, 2020 (Sub Register Value) in rupees per square yard below 3000 will be 20 per cent, between 3001-5000 will be 30 per cent, between 5001-10,000 will be 40 per cent, between 10,001 to 20,000, it will be 50 per cent, between 20,001 to 30,000 will be 60 per cent, between



30,001-50,000 will be 80 per cent and above 50,000, it will be 100 per cent.

Further the new orders substitutes rule 8(a) (ii) of the Telangana Regularisation of Unapproved and Illegal Layout Rules 2020 with the following: Pro-rata open spaces charges: If 10 per cent open space is not available in the unapproved layout, pro-rata open space charges at the rate of 14 per cent of the plot value prevailing as on the date of regularisation of such plot shall be paid.

In rule 8 (a) of the Telangana Regularisation of Unapproved and Illegal Layout Rules 2020, following were added after Rule (8) (iii) as Rule 8 (a) (iv): the LRS regularisation charges includes NALA (Non-Agricultural Land Assessment) charges also and no separate NALA charges shall be paid.

Apart from real estate organizations, even the general public and agents too have expressed happiness at the government orders.

This will help many people from middle income groups. For instance, an employee has purchased a plot ten years back in an unauthorized layout without properly checking the rules and land specifications. The seller would have by far washed off his hands, leaving the buyer in worry. Now, this LRS option, especially after the fee reduced, will ease a lot of financial burden on him and others who find themselves in a similar situation, as they can officially get the plot regularised, opines Raghuvardhan Reddy, a real estate agent from Moinabad.

More importantly, if the regularisation fee was collected as per the current prevailing rates, it would cost a bomb for the owners, adds Mohan Goud, another agent.

Prior to formation of HMDA or HUDA, most lands were under the purview of gram panchayats. Many people, especially middle income groups to fulfill their dreams to own a house, would have bought small plots but after the formation of HUDA or HMDA, the land prices have shot up drastically, especially in the last five years. “It is good the government considered all these factors and reduced the fee charges,” he says.