Are developers over ‘loading’ the buyers?

Loading’ has become a common terminology among the real estate fraternity. However, the extent of loading imposed by developers has been increasing year on year! ‘Why’ is what most of us want know!

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Are you living in a smaller apartment than you had paid for? Well, you are not alone! It has become a common phenomenon to come across people who went ahead with buying property thinking they would have a spacious home and ended up in a much smaller space.

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Welcome to the world of loading. What is loading? The difference between the super built-up area and the carpet area is called loading. What this implies is that with a loading of 30 per cent, an apartment advertised to be 1200 sq ft in size would ultimately have a usable area of only 850 sq ft.

So, what has led to the growing trend of loading across real estate markets in the country? “Emergence of the apartment culture and increasing gated communities have largely been responsible for this. With the multi-storey apartment culture, there was a need to provide elevators and staircases. The advent of the gated communities also added to the list of amenities that are at the disposal of the buyer. These include club houses, swimming pools etc. Apart from the maintenance charges that the buyer pays, there is a cost of construction for these properties that is borne by the developer. Thus, it becomes essential for the builder to charge on the super built-up areas such as these,” says Dipakk Vadehra, owner, Connextions Abroad.

Loading for standalone buildings, builder floors and villas is very low or almost nil as these do not have to be supported by added amenities. Today, loading in different cities varies from a nominal 20 per cent to as high as 60 per cent. While cities such as Gurgaon and Noida have loading in the range of 25-35 per cent, it is exorbitant in Mumbai at almost 60 per cent.

It is quite evident then that the demon called loading cannot really be eradicated. However, what could possibly be done is formation of a regulation around the same. “At present there is no regulation in this regard. This gives the developer a free hand to increase loading as per his whims and fancies,” says Rakesh Sudam of Earthwide Properties, a real estate firm in Hyderabad.

Once the real estate sector gets a regulator, there could probably be a cap on the extent of loading on residential projects. However, till then, buyers need to be extra cautious and not get duped by misleading marketing strategies and advertisements. Who knows, the spacious 3BHK home you had your eyes on might not just be as spacious after all!

Source: http://content.magicbricks.com/industry-news/are-developers-over-loading-the-buyers/77313.html