Bhagtani Victims' Voices #5: Subiya Shaikh, a school teacher, on Bhagtani Serenity in Powai

This is the story of a schoolteacher's dream of owning a home in Serenity, Powai -- a dream that turned sour. It's the story of every salaried middleclass family that had the misfortune of booking a flat with Bhagtani builders.

In 2014, Bhagtani builders, going under the names of Jaycee Homes and JVPD Properties Pvt Ltd, sold flats in Serenity in a pre-launch offer before any development permissions were granted. This pre-launch featured a Building No. 1 and Building No. 2 which had A, B, C, D, A2 & A3 wings of 39 floors each.

Numerous online portals such as makaan.com carried advertisements, and gave positive "feedback" about the project. The developer put up an advertisement throughout Powai region and a bridge on the Western Express Highway to lure prospective home buyers. The project was also promoted at the MCHI property exhibition held at BKC, Bandra in 2014.

I am a school teacher at Podar International School, CIE, Powai, and my husband is an employee of TCS. We have a son who is seven years old. Currently, we are living in the house that belongs to my in-laws. Naturally, given that my place of work is in Powai, I was eager to own a home at Serenity, Powai, where the rates offered sounded very reasonable. So, my husband and I visited the Bhagtanis' Santacruz office in October 2014, and met Sales Representative Smriti Nayar. Ms Nayar stressed that the land title was clear and the land was in the name of JVPD properties Pvt. Ltd. She claimed that the required municipal approvals (IOD and CC) would be received by December 2015 and possession of the flats would be given by 2017-2018. The Jaycee Homes office asked for 30% of the cost of the flat as a booking advance. They had an aggressive marketing strategy where the pre-launch rates were very good (Rs 9,500 per sqr. feet), and since the rates were going up rapidly, we decided to put our money in their Bhagtani Serenity project.
 

We booked Flat No. 1003 in A3 wing. All payments were made by cheque. I sold my marriage jewellery and my husband applied for a personal loan. The first cheques of Rs 5 lakhs and Rs 66,236 got cleared on 29/11/2014. The second cheque of Rs 10 lakhs got cleared on 01/01/2015. The third cheque of Rs 6.43 lakhs got cleared on 10/01/2015. In this way, we paid them 30% booking amount.
 

We received the allotment letter as of 17/01/2015.

We waited for a year during which the project update and progress was slow. Very often, Bhaganis' CRM team would state that the project was undergoing short delays, which are common in real estate projects. Things will soon be on track, they said reassuringly.

Finally in April 2016, we got an email from Jaycee CRM team stating that project Serenity had received the IOD.  This was a joyful moment for all of us. We paid the IOD payment of Rs 7.4 lakhs on 08/08/2016.
 

In Jan 2017, we received a call from CRM team that the allotment letter needs to be changed for a minor revision so that the approvals for all wings will come at one go only and this is needed to speed up the delayed project. The CRM team used to call us multiple times and very eager to get this done. The CRM Team visited our home 07/02/2017 to get the allotment letter revised. They brought the cancellation deed and took the earlier allotment letter (Wing A3). They got my signature on the revised allotment letter (The only revision in this was the change in Wing A3 to Wing E ). They later couriered us the revised allotment letter.
 

On March, 2017, we received an email from Jaycee Homes CRM team, that CC has been received for the Project Serenity.  On May 2017, we received an email from  Jaycee Homes CRM team that work has started in full swing. They shared images and videos at the site.

Bhagtani's CRM team sent this image showing
work in progress at the Serenity site in May 2017.
Just one JCB digging around to show activity!!! 

In July, 2017, we visited the Serenity Site to check the progress. However we were surprised to see no activity at the site. We called up the Jaycee Homes office and they claimed the digging was delayed but will be on track soon.

In Oct, 2017, we were shocked to read about the fraud by Bhagtanis/Jaycee Homes for other projects (Riyo in Miraroad, Sapphire in Dahisar) where there were multiple complaints against them.
 

We visited Jaycee Homes (Santacruz office) on 18th Oct, 2017, met a Customer Relationship Manager named Waqar. When enquired about the news and the project progress, he said that due to technical problem (which he was not at liberty to disclose) and cash flow issues, he could not confirm a date when the Serenity Project work would recommence. We were asked to shift to some other project or take refund. The terms of refund were that the payment dates would commence after 3 years, due to "cash flow issues" of the Bhagtanis. This was a rude shock! This is unfair!

This is the state of affairs at Serenity project
site currently -- shrubs and stagnant water.
No sign of any construction activity.

In order to book this flat at Bhagtani Serenity, we put in money from all our resources -- selling off marriage jewellery and taking a personal loan about 21 lacs @ 13. 5 p/a interest. As things turned out, we are now uncertain about the return of these funds. The prospects of our buying a house in this area are now reduced to zero, as the property rates have risen beyond our reach.

We would like to take legal action against this builder who, with an intention to cheat innocent home buyers, sold false hopes and promises. We are relying on registering an FIR with the Economic Offences Wing of Mumbai Police, and we hope we will get justice.  

We demand that appropriate action be taken against the builder, and that our hard-earned money is returned with fair interest rates immediately.

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Written by Subiya Masood Parvez Shaikh

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ISSUED IN PUBLIC INTEREST BY
Krishnaraj Rao
9821588114
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