Buying An Apartment from ND Developers? Beware!

Review On ND Developers, Bangalore

Like everybody in the corporate world, I too dreamt of owning an apartment in Bangalore. I started to hunt for an apartment in October 2011. I looked at several apartments in and around Sarjapur road. I had visited Bhuvana greens, DSR woodwinds, Mana Jardin,  Purva Skywood and several others before I visited ND Passion. Bhuvana greens, DSR Woodwinds and Mana Jardin had just started digging for foundation work, while at ND Passion Block C had come up, Block A was at 9-10th floor and Block B was at 5th floor. I was of the opinion that I would get faster possession of ND Passion since majority of the work was already done. Little did I know what was coming my way.

I paid the booking amount of Rs.1 lakh and I booked an apartment on the 11th floor of B-block. In a few days time I made the 20% cash payment. The rest was arranged through a loan. The agreement was made in a couple of days time. As per the agreement my apartment was to be handed over to me in March 2013 plus a grace period of 3 months which is understandable. I was so excited about this purchase that I used to visit the site every now and then looking at everything around me like a kid. Once the B-Block structure was done, I used to climb the stairs all the way up to 11th floor even though I had back problems. I am listing down all the issues that I faced so far from ND Developers. Wonder how many more do I have to see.

1. I wanted some changes in the kitchen and dining area. This was discussed with the assistant manager - CRM and the architect. I was told that all pipe connections and wiring needs to be taken on the floor since there is a lift adjacent to the kitchen and the wall was concrete and hence cannot be chipped. I was OK with this. These modifications had to be done at the time the roof of 10th floor was being done. I spent a lot of time discussing this with a friend who is a civil engineer, I visited the ND Developers office several time to have discussions with the assistant manager and the architect, I visited the ND Passion site several times to discuss this with the project manager. Finally the cost estimate for modification was prepared which was duly signed by me and returned back to the assistant manager.

As of today, these modifications are yet to be done. I had reminded the marketing person every time a floor was raised and still nothing was done. On questioning, assistant manager says, modifications will be done when plumbing work begins in the apartment. Plumbing work was already over in the apartment. The inlet pipes for the sink was already in place.

What happened to the concrete wall Mr. Assistant manager? Did you find a way to chip it now? Why wasn't it possible then? I asked him for a detailed plan on how he planned to do it. Until today I haven't heard from him on this.

What kind of a builder are you? Don't you maintain a record of all the requests from your customer? Do you even understand that there will a difference in quality and finish, if the work was done when it had to be done and if done now?

1. At the time of booking, I was shown the apartment layout on ground floor, 1st, 2nd and 3rd floor. They assured to me that it is the same all the way up to 12th floor. The apartment was such that, there was a walkway with railings right in front of the main door which was open to air. We were happy with the layout since there will be enough light through the main door whenever it is kept open.

As the structure came up, one fine day when I climbed all the way to 11th floor, I was shocked to see a huge wall right in front of the main door. The whole walkway was so dark mid afternoon that I felt as though I am entering a cave. I wonder if I will be able to move bigger furnitures into my apartment. The wall had come up because they extended the flat which was opposite to my apartment. Just for the sake of few extra lakhs, you made a mess of my apartment.

There was no way I could have checked this at the time of booking since the structure had not come up. Block-A which was ready had a different layout on 11th floor. Why did your sales team give an assurance that all layouts are similar to the top floor? You should understand that all the 2D plans, layout is not easily understandable to a layman. Your team should have explained it in detail which none of you did. If this was told to me in the beginning, I would never have booked this apartment. The first thing that any buyer looks when buying an apartment is whether enough light enters the apartment or not. I was so disturbed for several weeks after this incident. ND Developers were least bothered. They even stopped responding to me after a few email exchanges.

1. As per agreement, the apartment was to be handed over by March 2013. March came and went. No news from the builder. I waited for the 3 months grace period. No news yet from the builder. Infact no work was actually happening at the site. Daily a worker used to come and place just one brick or so. That was the amount of work being done. Several flat owners got together to confront  the builder. For me the handing over date was March 2013. But for several others it was sometime in 2011 or 2012. After several meetings with the builder and his team, they came up with a new timeline. As per the new timeline, I was to get the apartment in October 2013. Even then no significant work was happening at the site. On questioning, the assistant manager gives reasons like labor problem, non-availability of raw materials etc. If there was indeed non-availability of raw materials, how was work happening at other builder's site? If there was indeed non-availability of raw materials, why are in this business if you can't foresee the future? How was work happening at ND Passion Elite site in full swing if there was raw material problem? (ND Passion elite project started at least 5 years after the start of ND Passion project. Since it is a premium project, ND Developers are focussed on finishing that first. Looking at the kind of progress, I am sure people who booked ND Passion elite will get handover even before those who booked ND Passion). Several other projects which were at digging stage at the time of my apartment-hunt already have occupants in them.

So, October 2013 came and went. No news of handover. The A-Block was handed over to its owners. Till date A-Block owners are complaining of several issues at the site. Lifts were not operational for several months even after handover. Reason given was the delay from the lift provider. On contacting the lift provider, we were told that ND Developers had not made payment to them yet. How will they install the lifts or make them operational if payment is not made? Why wasn't payment made? Where was the project fund used? Buying land elsewhere? On ND Passion elite project or your personal bungalow?

1. In November, several meetings took place again. More colorful excel sheets. New timelines. This had become a habit now. As per the new timeline, handover of my apartment was April 30th 2014.  Pending tasks were listed with new start and end dates. The pending tasks were exactly the same as the previous plan. It was also decided that the assistant manager sends out a progress report every fortnight. Trust me, the progress report of 11th floor which I received in November and the report I received in April was exactly the same. No numbers had changed, except for one. The number of days left for handover. This was the only change in the 2 reports. Why do you even call it a PROGRESS report? Do you even know what progress mean? As usual the assistant manager had ready made excuses. "Floor tiles haven't come yet. The last load of tiles received were of poor quality. Hence we sent them back".

By mid March 2014, the owners were frustrated and had enough of ND Developers. I doubt whether any current owner will ever buy from ND Developers again. I for sure will not nor will I let any of my family and friends to buy from them. The owners decided amongst themselves to take on the builder legally. Lawyers were consulted, Credai was contacted and after several discussions, an association  was formed. This was required to take any legal action against the builder.

The owners had requested a meeting with the MD of ND Developers since talking to his staff at the site or office was leading anywhere. The MD wasn't ready to meet the owners nor were his staff ready to share his contact details. Finally on behalf of the owners association, a mail was sent to the MD informing him of  the consequences if he doesn't agree to meet the owners. The association had decided to write reviews on mouthshut, blogs, newspapers, forums etc, consider legal action, registering a complaint with Credai, visit real estate shows where ND Developers has a stand, stage a sit-out in front of Passion site, consumer forum etc. A deadline was given before which the MD had to respond.

The MD responded saying he was out of station and asked the association to meet his staff. It was clear that the MD didn't want to meet the owners since he was spotted near Udupi Garden, BTM Layout on the same evening. The MD finally decided to meet the owners and as expected we now have more colorful excel sheet with new timelines. According to the builder, I will get my apartment only by end of August 2014. The MD had accepted that work has not progressed because of lack of funds. I wonder what he did with the funds received from all owners. All of us have paid at least 95% of the apartment cost. MD claims that the project requires another 20 crores and he will inject 14 crores in the coming days. As of now, the association has decided to give ND Developers one more chance, but the progress will be monitored seriously on a monthly basis and necessary actions will be taken if the progress is not satisfactory. I will update this blog on the status every month from now.

1. ND developers always tries to evade any questions relating to compensation.  When I did, the reply I got was that March 2013+ 3 months grace period + 6 months for reasons beyond the control of the developer. So effectively I will be getting compensation only from January 2014. Now wasn't the project fund in the control of the developer? Why do I have to pay the price for the incompetence of the builder? Why do I have to pay the price if the builder has used our funds elsewhere. I won't be surprised if tomorrow I read a news stating that ND Developers holds acres of land in Bangalore. Do you even bother what your customers are going through? How much of pain and tension you have caused to your customers? I pay a rent of 18k plus an emi of 34k. I can't even claim tax benefit on the loan since I don't have possession yet. And all you give is a meagre 6k per month which you are not paying properly. Over that why aren't you making monthly payment? Will you give me interest at the time of settlement for holding my money back. Trust me, I will not let you off easily on this. I will consider legal option and make you pay more than what you owe me. I have never seen a useless and incompetent builder like ND Developers.

My request to all future buyers is to never ever buy from ND Developers. Please strike it off your list. There are several other small time builders who do a much better job in terms of quality and timeline. All ND Developers know is to make false promises.

Buy from ND Developers if-

1. You want to lose your peace of mind.

   
   




2. You are expecting possession after 10-15 years

   
   




3. You are expecting horrible build quality. Visit any of their site and check the finish and quality. Compare it other small builders. They call ND Passion a premium project. If this is the kind of build quality we can expect on a premium project wonder how a budget apartment from them would be.

   
   




4. You want to see your hard earned money going down the drain.

   
   




5. You want to go through their sales team and customer care team on a regular basis. They just know to make unrealistic promises. In most cases they don't even know what they are talking about. It is just a copy-paste job. In most mails, the content is incomplete. May be a case of copy-paste job gone wrong. Sometimes they also reply to your mail addressing you as somebody else. This shows their professionalism.

   
   

6.  You want to go bankrupt paying EMI and rent and no tax benefit at all.

If after reading this you have changed your decision to buy from ND Developers, then that would be the best ever decision you have ever taken in your life. I made the worst decision of my life buying from them and I am still repenting. Please visit ND Developers sites and talk to the owners. Read the reviews on Mouthshut. I am sure you won't find even a single good review on ND Developers. If you find any, it is from their staff itself. You will find a lot of reviews from ND Passion owners and ND laurel owners. In couple of years you can also hear from ND Passion Elite and around the mangoes owners.

I am not any competitor to ND Developers. I am just a frustrated unlucky owner of an apartment from ND Developers. All the statements above are true and I have all the required mails to prove the same.

Feel free to contact me anytime in case you have further questions. I will be more than happy to share all details with you including time plans, progress reports, new timelines, mails from them etc.

I don't enjoy doing this, but this is what ND Developers have led me to with their false promises, timelines after timelines and improper response from their team. Wonder how can they just stop responding to somebody's queries who has paid over 50 lakhs to them for an apartment.

STAY AWAY FROM ND DEVELOPERS...

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