Rental Home, An Endless Search!

The home should be the treasure chest of living….Le Corbusier

Charles-Édouard Jeanneret-Gris, better known as Le Corbusier, was an architect, designer, painter, urban planner, writer, and one of the pioneers of what is now called modern architecture.  The great architect have expresses the secret behind the sentiments of millions aspiring their own home. And especially in our country home is the most prized possession, may it be for a super rich man or a small one guntha plot holder! Having those four walls of our own is the ultimate dream here! Though ever rising population & limitation of the land are the biggest constraint on getting this dream true for most & the scene is going to worsen. Chiefly in Metros where maximum migration is happening from all corners of the country, prices of a home that too a legal title clear home with all basic infrastructure are sky rocketing. In Pune itself a good 2 bhk flat costs nearly 50 lacs & above & in cities like Mumbai or Delhi the figure goes above 1 crore!

Now how many can afford that kind of money is a big question & unfortunately our “mai-baap” Govt either have no policy for bringing the home prices down nor have any plans of doing so in near future,. And any policy can’t be successful unless it’s amicably accepted to all segments involved in home making. As well it should be practical & not like the 20% small homes to be kept compulsory in every project being developed o all plots bigger than 1 acre land type! That’s a different subject but time & again every policy has failed which was supposed to make the homes available for common man within the range he is looking for i.e. on cost as well size front. Take the example of ULC i.e. Urban Land Ceiling act, it was supposed to keep land prices in control but for the same reason it’s been abolished & reality is neither the land prices came down when it was in existence nor they came down even when its scrapped! But who cares! Govt is happy as they have shown their willingness for making the home prices affordable to the “aam aaadmi’, why to bother whether it’s happened or not!

On this background when we are neither controlling population not trying to improve land use of available land, rental housing can be a workable option for solving accommodation problem for many, especially in big cities. This has been successfully implemented in China as well upcoming city’s like Tokyo as well Singapore, where land was a problem & majority population was getting settled in some particular city. Agreed we have been telling stories of above cities for years & trying to mimic them on urban planning front yet poor will power was always a main reason of failure. Yet it’s always worth trying again & at least pressurize Govt to do so for getting some solution.

Not long ago getting a rental flat or any accommodation was a pretty easy option as for many buying a home was expensive thing & rental accommodation was easily available & without hassles. But since the rent acts & all the legal stuff like leave & lease license which may be routine stiff for an advocate but surely not for a commoner who is giving his home for rent & even not for the one who is looking for renting the same! A common question asked by many aspiring property owners while renting out the property is what if the lessee i.e. the one who take the property on lease means on rent, do not vacate the property in time? Well the legal answer may be go to court & with your “leave & lease” license in place i.e. properly registered, one can evacuate the lessee in no time! But we all know the truth what happens in actual. It is not that people don’t believe in justice, they do; what they don’t believe is that they will get the justice in time! And this why, no one is ready to go to Court or any Govt authority to get hold of their property. Then there are things like the owner of the property has to inform to local police information of the person to whom he has rented the property, especially when its residential premise. And that process also is equally tiring. Why can all our Govt departments get linked together with the kind of technology available so the common man will get free from registering himself at number of places for one deal? This is the question which many people have in their minds as like if the deal of rental flat is registered at one Govt Dept then why not the information is passed to all concerned departments like Police or Municipal Corporations etc? All these add on registering demoralize the people to give their property on rent is a fact. And then the societies also have a bylaw that rental flat will have to pay additional or more maintain ace charges & even there is legal provision to do so. I wonder what it makes the difference who occupies the flat if the use is same. Only just because the owner has given his home on rent & earning some extra money out of it, why he should be penalized for the same? By doing this ultimately are we not increasing rent burden on the needy ones? Because it’s the person who can’t buy his own home is only going for a rental option, so effort should be made as much low rent can be made available to him. Instead all our policies are such that we are preventing people to give their flat for rent. The rent acts & all related to the subjects policies should be made easy, transparent & the property owners should be made assured that even they are renting their home, it’s perfectly safe & hassle free. Then only more & more people will come in this renting business.

As on one side already the ever rising prices of the property is making it impossible to match the investment  vs. returns via rent; especially in Metros where housing is always in demand its seen that bank interest for loan EMI is too much if someone thinks of renting his home & pay the loan through the rental income. At the same time more & more people are thinking of getting home on rent as it’s out of budget for them to have a home of their own. At such time Urban Development Dept should come up with some policy which will promote rental housing, as in a city like Pune there is lot of population which depend up on rental homes for their shelter for e.g. students coming for education from out station, bachelors’ who has been got a job in the city & those who have got a job on transfer types & many more. We can think of reservations for this purpose or additional FSI for rental housing schemes. Also make finance available for such projects at special rates & in enough quantity! Most important is establishing an agency which will handle all rental deals including fast track courts also; it will act like a single window for rental properties. Then there will be more & more people who will willingly rent out their homes & as Corbusier said, the treasure chest named home, won’t be some limited edition thing for a few lucky ones but for every single person around!

Sanjay Deshpande

Sanjeevani Dev.

MSEDCL (Power) Committee, Credai, Pune

Please do visit my blogs to know about our philosophy at Sanjeevani ! (Click the links below)

http://jivnachadrushtikon.blogspot.in/

http://visonoflife.blogspot.in/2013/01/identifying-good-builder.html


Social Side of Sanjeevani ! (Click link below)

http://www.flickr.com/photos/65629150@N06/sets/72157627904681345/

For any of your complaints about city, log in at link below

http://www.punecorporation.org/GRS/Complaint/LaunchComplaintCitizen.aspx

Think Green, Think Life

www.sanjeevanideve.com

Image Building & Media! A Sharing....

Dear Frds,

One small news in today’s newspaper (and the way its head line has been wrote, " mediala sakade" means like we pray to god for well being of some one sick) which does intrigued me a lot & made me pen down the sharing below! It’s not to criticize any effort but just a thought process! It’s about Police Comm. of Mumbai has decided to call all media as well bollywood & tv people & appeal them to show better side of the police force!

Appreciate the sincere attitude of police chief behind this move but personally I feel there are better ways than to appeal to media to improve the image of force & that’s the way which champions have followed always & that is let your action speak than your words!

What media & movies paint it’s a limit how much importance to be given to them & what one should do is lift your own image at such level that no one will dare to slam you by painting your wrong image!  Ever think why it’s always builders, police & politicians who are shown as baddies in all movies or serials? Because that’s what most common people feel & have suffered. Each of us by some way has been exposed to this exploitation somewhere & agreed there are good people too in the system & it will be unjust for them but then few good men are not enough for entire system, may it be real estate or police force or politics!

Go to any one around & ask his first hand experience about police station or a builder & see the outcome by your own self. On such back ground had the police chief has shown some different way to strengthen his force by lifting moral of the last person is "shipahi" by providing him better infrastructure, it would have been more appreciated. Today go to any police colony or police station & see conditions these guys live or work & look at the expectations we have from them! Most of the police chowkis don't have even basic things like toilets! The Mumbai attacks are now 4 years old & how many police men got guns or even good helmets or vehicles? Even the top bosses are not allowed to use govt mobile service & have age old walky-talky for communication is a fact. May be its effective but the so called modernization of force is just on paper or in talks of the politicians, we all know this & witnessed also.

Why can’t the top bosses in force unite & fight or demand with the politicians who are rulers for better work infrastructure for their men & put the foot down, instead adopting such way of appealing tv/movie media people who are just commercial moguls. Rather knowing the way media act, they will even take this incidence also as how police beg them for face lifting of the dept!

Any image is created by our own acts & that’s the best & true image, may it be any department or any industry. Try to cultivate a culture which the common man himself will experience & will share with media. That will make media to bend the knees as this medium provides what common man wants. And common man isn’t fool that media is showing wrong image of police & in actual police is doing good job, no sir he won’t accept rubbish. Time & again society has proved that movies which give false image of any subject have been miserably failed even with big names or superstars. We see police, builders & politician’s nexus doing wrong things in every alternate movie because people see it every day around & that’s why they appreciate it in movies. There are movies where good cop is hero & most of the time he has to fight with his own dept or the system, again this also we have seen happening in actual. There are movies like “Shoot out at Lokhandwala”, where helplessness of the system of police dept has been shown & has been appreciated by the dept also about Human Rights criticism type difficulties in working. Then there has been "Singham" which was applauded by all police force, but how many such "Singham's" we see around in actual life? And if there is any such what happens with them, that also we all know. Once up on a time being a police cop was thing of honor, even a constable patrolling on street would get respect from people around & salutes; but today the feeling is being lost from the force. Need of the time is to hold this feel & for that it should come from within of every person working with the force. And this feeling should get reflected in the behavior pattern of all levels of the dept &  then we won’t need to appeal any movie mogul to paint the force's face as good cop!

See recent news of four youths getting drowned in river, the parents have acknowledged the efforts police took in searching of the mishap victims, fact is this also when they first went to launch complaint there has been dodging in between police stations that who will take the complaint. And when one of the parents communicated with Police Chief of Pune then only things moved & the system went in action! Another recent news was about a girl who met with suicide for embarrassment from eve teasing from a local goon & as not only the police has refused to take complaint but didn’t took any action against the goon! And now after her death again the system moved & even the concerned officers are behind the bars, but what about the girls who lost her life? Why we have to go to top each time & get awake after something happens? And then what’s wrong if the media paints the way things are!

Had any such appeal has been made by a politician or minister of any department, I wouldn’t have felt so miserable as that’s the way most politicians are, blaming everything on administration & expressing their helplessness covering their lack of will power to get the things done. And it’s not just the police dept, real estate isn’t also out of such image damaging thing by the media. So what builder’s association chief should do? Go & appeal media that not to paint there wrong image of builders? Imagine what will be reaction of the media as well common man over such action by the developers or so called builders? They will be laughing stock of entire society & each of us will say, look at your own face in mirror instead asking somebody else to touch up the same! Instead appealing for writing about good builders, go & give service to the customers & build some real good buildings, is the advise we would get! It’s high time to introspect & then act to improve the system from bottom & then such appeal would have been more appropriate. Rather the appeal to the movie media should have been to support the fight of police force against the elements acting as hurdles they are facing in improving the dept!

I am fortunate to have many of my good friends coming from the force & am always proud for their work & have seen the dept  at bit close range than other common men, so dared to share; as it’s the friends only who can make you think even they might rub you at wrong places a times. Let’s remember however good we as an individual may be but it’s the surrounding in which we are will rule our image, even as an individual! Today a genuine cop is appealing media for makeup to the face of a department which is backbone of the society; with due respect to the sincerity behind the efforts, I am unable to understand whether its failure of force named police or victory of a giant named media!

--

Sanjay Deshpande

Sanjeevani Dev.

MSEDCL (Power) Committee, Credai, Pune

Please do visit my blogs to know about our philosophy at Sanjeevani ! (Click the links below)

http://jivnachadrushtikon.blogspot.in/

http://visonoflife.blogspot.in/2013/01/identifying-good-builder.html


Social Side of Sanjeevani ! (Click link below)

http://www.flickr.com/photos/65629150@N06/sets/72157627904681345/

For any of your complaints about city, log in at link below

http://www.punecorporation.org/GRS/Complaint/LaunchComplaintCitizen.aspx

Think Green, Think Life

www.sanjeevanideve.com

What I gifted this Diwali?

Our responsibility as privileged human beings is to pay back for the opportunities we've received… Kathryn  Anastos

Kathryn Anastos, MD is a physician executive, clinician and medical researcher who for more than 20 years have provided both clinical care and operational and clinical leadership in the South Bronx.  She has extensive experience in innovative development of large programs designed to increase access to high quality, culturally sensitive care by poor communities of color, while meeting both a clinical and financial bottom line.  And what I admire about western world is the way they always try to think on paying back to the society while making money from their respective earning ways. Many won’t like this as have we not enough charity doers in form of Azeem Premzi & Narayn Murthy’s likes & isn’t Tata’s & Birla’s have done enough in this regard for the society by large? Yes, they have but amongst population of over 100 crores how many names we can count & put forward as role models when it comes to giving back to the society? And social responsibility isn’t just for the billionaires or super riches but it’s for every single person of the society; as even a beggar on foot path has a social responsibility to keep the foot path & surroundings clean where he makes his living! But think about what we see around & now tell how much socially aware we are in this country, towards our responsibility for the society?

Especially when it comes to real estate there always has been stories of spending of the big names in this business as well lavish life style they live by; somewhere many come to real estate just because the kind of money they see in the industry & that too in very less time span. Also it’s a thinking of most, that developer’s makes money without much hard work & most important anybody can become a builder as no criteria of education or qualification is required to become one. But then no such criteria is required for being a hotelier or even industrialist also, as we have examples of Mr.Dhirubhai Ambani & many others who wasn’t having any such degree yet they build an empire by themselves! May be the way we keep on reading the stories about builder’s luxurious life, more than the work they put in, so this can be the reason behind the outlook of the society about the builders. But then some where the builders themselves are also responsible for making such image. Rather many builders enjoy this status of being rich & famous in the society by flashing their wealth with big cars, glamorous parties they give & huge homes. Unfortunately the result is society neglects the hard work one has to put in for building a name in the real estate & fulfill the commitments in this industry & instead tag the builders as Casanova of modern society!

There are many good people in this industry doing lots of social works but somewhere either the number is not enough or it’s not being properly projected. For example let’s see the way we can make difference on the time of festival like Diwali which we all must have enjoyed recently; as for all of us it’s the time of fun & joy. So we shop till we drop & right from the expensive watches to cars, gift our self & only to the people who are close to us & as well to those of any use to us in business! Is that all? What about so many people who are in their own way helping us to the position we are in? For e.g. take the site workmen, as for many of them Diwali isn’t just fun or holiday but it’s the time for which they don’t get paid for as they are paid on daily wages & Diwali being an holiday it don’t get counted in their wages. Also the kind of tin sheds they live in & their children are placed, shopping as well fire crackers are way out of their dreams. In many ways this times Diwali was unique, on one side less use of fire crackers was a good thing but at the same time extraordinary inflation of commodity prices has made a commoners even middle class people’s Diwali also a night mayor! Leave apart the site workers even for the small petty contractors it was impossible to celebrate the same due to high prices of commodities like basic ingredients of sweets which are inherent part of the celebrations.

In many real estate offices it’s a standard practice not to accept the bills for work done or material supplied, in the month of Diwali or not to issue checks in the week of Diwali i.e. all due payments are cleared only after Diwali. In a way this may be right to avoid burden on finance department in Diwali days, as bonus to the employees etc are already there. But what about many of small contractors as well their labors? Rather don’t they need this money most at such festive times? Instead this could be the best way of gifting that if we can make all the due payments if not advances before Diwali to all of our vendors & make their Diwali a bit dearer! Similarly think of gifting our small vendors too site people including watchman with things which they can use instead just giving money. We can give utility objects like rain coats to winter clothing to labors & even think for their kids also for gifting, which may include Tiffin boxes to School bags to even Shoes as many of site worker’s kids are bare foot & it does cause many accidents at site as well when they are moving around. When we make decorative lighting on our offices as well projects at Diwali time, the reality on other hand is in many labor huts at sites there is not even a single light, so we can make lighting at site labor camps also. Even this small act can make the labors happy & enlighten their moods too for the festive time.

Chanakya has said, “A man is recognized by the way of his spending”. The real estate bosses should learn for this quote as how we spend at Diwali will define our approach towards the society we are in. With so many ways we can contribute to the society & lay a path for the new comers in this industry. This will not only benefit the business but will help in makeover of the image of entire industry. And what better time than Diwali to show our responsibility towards the fortune & opportunities we have received. 

As at end it’s our approach is what going to decide what we are & what we deserve, & let’s not forget only that remains with us what we deserve, that’s the law of nature!  And real estate is not an exception to this nature’s law! So this Diwali, each of us, let’s ask a question to our self that what I have gifted to this very city & the society? I think the answer will decide the faith of the city & real estate in it!

Sanjay Deshpande

Sanjeevani Dev.

MSEDCL (Power) Committee, Credai, Pune

Please do visit my blogs to know about our philosophy at Sanjeevani ! (Click the links below)

http://jivnachadrushtikon.blogspot.in/

http://visonoflife.blogspot.in/2013/01/identifying-good-builder.html


Social Side of Sanjeevani ! (Click link below)

http://www.flickr.com/photos/65629150@N06/sets/72157627904681345/

For any of your complaints about city, log in at link below

http://www.punecorporation.org/GRS/Complaint/LaunchComplaintCitizen.aspx

Think Green, Think Life

www.sanjeevanideve.com