Housing societies want fee to convert leasehold land to freehold cut

Members of housing societies, which are built on collector's or leasehold land, want the premium charges for conversion of the land to freehold status to be reduced from 15% to 5% of the ready reckoner (RR) rate. The demand was presented during the state-level meeting of the State Sahakar Parishad on Sunday.

"Most of these housing societies are in a dilapidated condition and in urgent need of redevelopment. But the high premium makes redevelopment unviable," said a member of a housing society.

"At present, every flat resale requires a NOC from the collector. It is a time-consuming process even after payment of transfer fees. Even during redevelopment, the society requires NOC in addition to the payment of 15% of the RR value of the land as a premium. It takes more than one year to get the NOC from the collector. Also, one has to incur the additional cost of liaisoning and professional fees," he said.