Sitting in his office on a Friday afternoon, Siddhartha felt like a helpless little child in his mother’s lap. He felt like crying but endeavoured to suppress the uncontrollable urge to shed tears.
How he wished his mother stroke his head and comfort him like when he was a child!
He could almost hear his mother’s soft voice, “Don’t worry, sab thik hoye jabe (everything will be all right).”
Will it be really?
In his childhood, everything finally was all right.
His mother’s assurances always came true.
But what about now?
Siddhartha is a big boy now, with a family to take care of.
What will his wife, Ruchi, say after she hears what happened to him?
Will she show pity? Or try to hide her worries with pretentious words of assurance?
Siddhartha was worried. Extremely worried.
On the one hand, his family expenses skyrocketed after the birth of their daughter, Ankita, and now this!
What will happen to the apartment he booked just a little more than a year ago?
Booking an Apartment in Kolkata
After a long period of searching through the websites of different real estate projects, visiting the construction sites, and discussing the project and financial details, Siddhartha shortlisted a few suitable homes. He finally booked one of them.
Siddhartha’s wife was ecstatic. Ruchi started imagining how she would deck up her new home once they get the possession. She visited her under-construction apartment quite a few times and saw it going towards completion.
She thought of the colour of the walls, furniture, and upholstery. She considered how she would arrange the kitchen.
Siddhartha too, on a few occasions, accompanied her and she effusively talked to him about her plans.
She even took a tour of the areas around the project and checked out the market, the Metro station, and the nearest schools.
After all, her daughter would go to school before long. 2-3 years would pass by in a jiffy.
Could she ever imagine that her world of happiness, painstakingly built over months, would come crashing down so unexpectedly?
When You Must Cancel a Flat Booking
There are occasions when a homebuyer needs to cancel the booking of a flat, usually because of impairment or unpredictability of future income to pay the EMIs.
In such a circumstance there is always a financial implication, the quantum of which depends on a crucial factor.
What is this crucial factor and how it can affect the quantum of financial damage to the homebuyer?
We will discuss it in a moment.
But before that, let us consider 2 scenarios.
2 Scenarios, 2 Outcomes
When you book an apartment, you generally book with a fixed amount.
Let’s say you book the flat with a token amount of Rs 100,000.00
Usually, this follows with the signing of the sale agreement and at that time you have to pay 10% of the total payable amount. Generally, it is within 30 days of booking.
So, after the sale agreement is signed, there is a substantial financial implication to the homebuyer in the case of cancellation. The sale agreement is generally registered within 2-3 months of getting signed.
This is the crucial factor that determines the quantum of cancellation charges to be paid by the homebuyer.
Usually, the developer charges 10% of the total consideration of the deal.
Works out to be a substantial amount.
Also, there is a lock-in period of a year during which the homebuyer cannot resell the flat.
However, if the homebuyer cancels the booking just after the booking but before the signing of the sale agreement, he commonly pays a fixed charge.
Obviously, in this case, the homebuyer does not suffer from any major damage. Sometimes, even this amount is waived by the developer.
How NK Realtors Can Help
In the case of the booking of any property is cancelled after the sale agreement is signed, the damage to the homebuyer is considerable.
10% is the total apartment price is a substantial price to pay.
Often, a homebuyer is forced to cancel a booking for factors beyond his control.
As we have discussed above, in many cases a homebuyer cancels an apartment booking because of financial reasons. For example, the homebuyer’s job loss can force him to cancel his apartment booking.
In such a scenario, NK Realtors can help minimize the financial loss to the homebuyer.
When Siddhartha approached us to help him, we offered a solution to his problem.
Siddhartha could cancel his booking but paid only 2% instead of the usual 10%.
How did it work out so well for Siddhartha in the end?
We will discuss that now but before that, we will know why Siddhartha was so distressed to cancel the booking.
What happened on that Friday afternoon?
How Everything Worked Out Well for Siddhartha
Siddhartha will never forget that Friday afternoon as long as he will live.
He was actually planning his weekend plans when his boss called for him. As soon as he entered his boss’ room, he sensed something was amiss.
His boss had an unusually grave face.
And then it came for him. A barrage of how invaluable Siddhartha was for the organization.
While Siddhartha was wondering why his boss chose this Friday afternoon to tell him all these, his boss told him that the company planned some changes in HR planning.
And Siddhartha was chosen, among others, to be part of the plan.
In simple terms, Siddhartha is transferred from Kolkata.
Siddhartha was wondering what he would do with his apartment booking in Kolkata since his family is not going to live in this city.
After a long discussion with his wife, Ruchi, he decided to cancel his booking.
But when he heard of the stiff penalty for cancellation, as the sale agreement was already registered, his heart sank.
It was his good fortune that he approached us through a friend.
It Ended Well for Siddhartha
During the discussion, it was discovered that there is a buyer who is also looking to buy an apartment now.
We spoke to this buyer to know whether he would be interested to buy the apartment Siddhartha booked.
Siddhartha was pleasantly surprised to know that this buyer would love to buy this flat.
We helped him with all the paperwork and Siddhartha successfully cancelled the flat booking.
If you ever need innovative property solutions, contact us even if you don’t need to cancel a flat booking. We have hundreds of homeowners on our panel looking to sell properties. We will positively surprise you.
