Sea-Facing Bungalow Fraudulently Sold For Rs 20 Crore In Mumbai

Using a fake power of attorney a Rs 200 crore sea-facing Royal Bungalow in South Mumbai has been fraudulently sold for Rs 20 crore by Jamaluddin Shaikh, a resident of Behram Nagar slum in Bandra suburb of Mumbai, the Economic Times reported.

According to the sales agreement, a token amount of Rs 5 crore was to be paid to the family of late Maharaja Martand Singh of Rewa, of which Rs 50 lakh was paid into an account in the Patna branch of HDFC Bank, while the balance Rs 4.5 crore was to be paid in tranches in black.

Ironically, the same property, over which there is a status quo order from the Supreme Court, had been sought to be sold in the same manner twice earlier. 

Auctioned properties in Lutyen’s Delhi undervalued 
Meanwhile, many bungalows in Lutyen’s Delhi, the capital’s most expensive address, are being sold below market prices to business tycoons as the original owners remain embroiled in litigation, court interventions, encroachment by domestic help etc, resulting in a court-initiated auction, says another Economic Times report.

Obviously, with a clear land licence, the property will not command the same premium as those not embroiled in any litigation. Moreover, an auction sale is akin to a distress sale.

Citing an example, the report said the court ordered an auction at a reserve price set five years ago, which was much lower than actual market price. So the businessman bought it for Rs 150 crore while the market value of the property is more than Rs 220 crore. Read full report here.

A New York Times report, on the other hand, points out that even torn-out, seedy real estate in Lutyen’s Delhi goes for eight figures as fewer properties come available in the leafiest, most prestigious section of the capital.

“Sunil Mittal’s brother, Rajan, was the winner of the auction for 38 Amrita Shergil Marg. The property had been entangled in a family legal feud for three decades until a judge ordered that the property be sold at auction, with the proceeds divided among family members. Had it been sold privately, many neighbours and brokers say, the final price would have been higher. To avoid taxes, many sellers demand huge, secret cash payments to supplement the publicly recorded selling price,” says the report.

Bangalore’s villas see drop in rentals as expat headcounts drop
Reflecting the tighter budgets for most global corporates, many MNCs in India are trying to reduce expat headcounts to save money, resulting in a drop in rentals of high-end villas in Bangalore over the last year.

According to a report by property consultancy firm DTZ,  rents for premium villas in Whitefield, where rentals for the largest and the best units had risen to between Rs 2.5 lakh and Rs 4 lakh per month, are currently going at much lower rates.

Alexander Moore, CEO, L J Hooker India, a property consulting firm, is quoted in the Economic Times as saying that against the first quarter of 2012 when 100 expats relocated to Bangalore, only 50  relocated in the first three months of 2013.