Kolte Patil: The Shameless Cheat

Review On Kolte Patil Developers, Pune

When I had visited IVY Estate in 2011, I was told about number of beautiful things to happen with this project. The sales guys were luring us by big promises like

1) Lifestyle Apartments

2) Bishops

3) Central / Big Bazaar Mall

4) PolyClinic

obviously selling KP brand as well.

They had shown a miniature Model(please note, not a video or picture) which was lush green with lots of amenities and water bodies.

Unfortunately I succumbed to all their promises and booked a flat at Ivy Botanica and paid 20% amount to the builder(and I still curse myself for that moment).

Once they got my money I started to face the issues with Kolte Patil. Below is the list of major ones.

1) The blueprint was not approved, as a result I was not able to take loan from SBI leading to financial losses in lacs(MaxGain account was the major reason for the loan from SBI). At the time of selling it was told that the project is approved by SBI too. I was forced to change the bank after one year when the property prices had risen many folds and I could not cancel the booking. All this while I was assured every time that this will be worked out and Kolte Patil will not let this happen. This was the start of the first false promise and there are many to follow.

2) The next false promise didn't take long to materialize. within few months after changing the bank, I saw a foundation being set for a multi-story building  right in front of my balcony. Doesn't sound fishy yet? read on. This foundation was at the same place where I was told that there will be an open area, either water bodies or green lawn for walkway. If anyone wants to check my claim then he can walk into the sales office at Ivy, even today, and look at the model.

3) What's next? After few months the original parking spaces in the residential complex(Botanica) was sold as shops. So now whenever(this is after a delay of 8 months already) we get the possession we will not be getting parking until Kolte Team builds a podium parking for us and that might take another year or so as the construction is yet to be started.

4) With no other option we had to agree with the above points but this is not the end. We were told that since there are shops in Botanica, it will not have a boundary and a regular gate. As a "noble gesture" Kolte Patil team has provided a "boom barrier" and these smart people think that this is good enough for security and will stop animals from entering and littering. This will also protect us from rogues / thieves or drunkard who might come to the possible liquor store in one of the shops. A price one has to pay at Kolte Patil's "LifeStyle apartments".

5) The Gas pipeline service which is provided in the "Lifestyle Apartments" is by one of the worst service provider(Natraj Gas). With this vendor we will not be able to get the subsidy refunds as they do not have a system to do so individually. They can only transfer the subsidy amount to one account and that individual will personally check everyone's meter and calculate the refund(some complex logic) and transfer the amount. Sounds an easy way to do so? Well for over a year no one has been able to take the responsibility in one of the Prime society called Konark Campus(actually a lifestyle apartment) in Viman Nagar, Pune.

6) The famous and the biggest USP of IVY was Water Treatment Plant(WTP). Anyone buying a flat in Pune knows about the water crisis in Wagholi. To overcome this issue we were aggressively sold the benefits of WTP and how easy and pure water will be as KP is getting the water from river, treating it here and then distributing it. We were even charged extra 32/- psft for this plant. Well, its been over two years and Umang Primo are still waiting for pure water. We are told that till March 14 the WTP will be functional, no reasons explained as to what has changed since last 3 years that KP can commit this date. To me it is another false promise by them and they will come up with another lame excuse of not able to provide WTP by March 14. Did I tell you that till the time WTP is functional, we will have to pay for the water tankers? Just to give you guys an idea about this, the amount for Umang Primo is 3.4 lacs per month for 200 odd families(imagine the cost for 1100 flats).

It is illegal to move in the flat without completion certificate and builder is aware about it(various mails exchanges) but they are still shamelessly making false promises about dates and asking for remaining 5% payment+ development charges. Earlier in the year we were told Feb 1st week for completion certificate and possession, when we asked in the 1st week of Feb they gave us another date of March.

I am sure it will be difficult to match the same as well, looking at the reasons for not getting the certificate in the original place(Change in Plan and no Water).

Thank you for having the patience to read through this. I am sure by now you will be convinced about the way Kolte Patil treats its customers and maintain relationship after sale is  done. The above points are the few major ones I have mentioned, there are plenty more minor(relatively) issues but putting them down doesnt make a lot of sense therefore ignoring.

I strongly discourage anyone from buying any property from KP anywhere in the country.

By the way, the plan for Botanica and Umang Premier are still not approved by Town Planning Authority(TPA) / Collector Office and these constructions could be illegal, if anyone is still planning to buy a flat there. And for those who are falling in the trap of "Terrace Apartments" @Ivy Apartments, please ask the sales team to provide the Completion Certificate of the plan before booking because as per the Collector / TPA the terrace is to be made available for every resident and cannot be an individual's property.

Just for the context sake, the above grievance is not mine alone. I am writing on behalf of 200 odd members in my group who are constantly talking to the builder and trying to find out when will our struggle going to end? When will we enjoy staying in our "sweet home" which most of us had bought by paying hard earned money and not for investment.

Before I sign-off, the points 2, 3, 4 mentioned at the start still have to see the light of the day. Not even sure if they ever will and if they do when will we get the benefits:)

A Distressed Customer of KP,

Div

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