Freehold Conversion in L&DO – FAQs
a) All residential plots, irrespective of area, for which the allotment / perpetual lease is issued by the department of Rehabilitation or Land and Development Office, Nirman Bhawan (L&DO) for residential purpose and building thereon is constructed and where completion certificate or at least D-Form in respect of such construction is obtained from the Local Body.
b) ‘C’ type tenements allotted on leasehold basis by the Department of Rehabilitation or Land and Development Office (Ministry of Urban Development).
c) ‘A’ type tenements allotted on leasehold basis by the Department of Rehabilitation or Land and Development Office (Ministry of Urban Development).
d) All Industrial plots allotted by the Department of Rehabilitation or Land and Development Office and upon which building is constructed and completion certificate or at least D-Form in respect of such construction is obtained from the Local Body.
e) All commercial and mixed land use properties allotted by the department of Rehabilitation, L&DO or the Directorate of Estate, for which ownership rights have been conferred and lease deed executed and registered.
Conversion from leasehold to freehold is optional.
2. WHO CAN APPLY?
The person / persons whose names appear on the records of the Land and Development Office as lessee can apply for conversion. If there are number of lessees, all of them will have to sign the application. However, the lessee(s) can also give Power of Attorney (which should be registered in the office of Sub-registrar) to sign the application on his / her behalf.
If there was already a transaction regarding the properties and the original lessee has given General Power of Attorney to another person for execution of Sale Deed, the GPA holder himself can apply for conversion. However, in such cases, it should also be specified in the application as to in whose name the conversion is to be granted. If there are a series of General Power of Attorneys, attested copies of all such GPAs must be furnished to establish the link with the lessee on record and the applicant.
3. WHETHER CO- LESSEES CAN APPLY SEPARATELY?
For each property there should be only one application and all co- lessees will have to sign on the same. If an application is not signed by all the co-lessees it will not be accepted.
4. IF A PERSON HOLDS LEASE FOR MORE THAN ONE PROPERTY, WHETHER HE CAN SEEK CONVERSION FOR ALL THE PROPERTIES IN ONE APPLICATION?
No. One application can be considered only for one property. Therefore, if a person holds more than one property he will have to apply separately in respect of each property.
5. WHETHER MORTGAGED PROPERTY CAN BE CONVERTED?
Yes, provided a certificate of ‘No Objection’ for conversion is obtained from the mortgagee and the attested copy of the same is attached to the application. If the property was mortgaged and a copy of N.O.C. from the mortgagee is not enclosed with the application, the conversion will not be granted.
6. WHETHER CONVERSION WILL BE GRANTED EVEN IF THE LEASE DEED IS NOT SIGNED OR NOT REGISTERED?
a. In respect of rehabilitation colonies, in cases where lease deed is not signed or not executed on account of administrative delays the conversion will be allowed. In such cases even in case lease deed was executed but was not got registered by the lessees for whatsoever reasons, the conversion will be allowed.
b. However, if the lease deed was not signed or not executed for certain defaults on the part of the allottee, the conversion will not be allowed.
c. In respect of commercial / industrial / mixed land use premises, conversion will be allowed only after the lease deed is executed and registered.
7. WHETHER CONVERSION WILL BE GRANTED EVEN IF THERE IS A MISUSE OF THE PROPERTY?
Yes, Conversion will be granted even where a portion of residential property is being put to Non-residential use, subject to payment of misuse charges, whether earlier demanded or not.
8. WHETHER CONVERSION WILL BE GRANTED EVEN IF THERE IS UNAUTHORISED CONSTRUCTION?
Conversion will be granted to the leasehold properties even if there is unauthorised construction, subject to payment of damages charges, whether earlier demanded or not. However the applicant will be liable for action under Municipal Bye-Laws. The conversion to freehold in the presence of misuse/unauthorised construction does not act as a waiver of any action, which is liable to be taken under the building byelaws by the Local Body.
9. WHETHER CONVERSION WILL BE GRANTED IF THERE IS ENCROACHMENT ON GOVERNMENT/PUBLIC LAND?
No. Conversion to freehold shall not be permitted in respect of a property involving encroachment on Government/Public land.
10. WHETHER CONVERSION WILL BE GRANTED IF THERE IS A DISPUTE BETWEEN THE LESSOR AND LESSEES ABOUT PAYMENT OF CERTAIN DUES?
No, Conversion will not be granted unless any pending dispute including for payment of certain dues in respect of leasehold premises between the lessor and lessee is resolved.
11. WHETHER APPLICTION FOR CONVERSION CAN BE GIVEN DURING THE PENDENCY OF SUBSTITUTION / MUTATION?
Applications can be given by the person/persons on whose names the substitution / mutation will have to be carried out. However, these applications will be considered only on disposal of pending substitution / mutation case. On disposal of substitution / mutation case, if it is found that the substitution/mutation is carried out on the name of the same person/persons who applied for conversion, the same application will be taken into account. Otherwise the conversion application will be rejected.
12. IN CASE OF ‘C’ TYPE TENAMENTS WHERE SUPPLEMENTARY LEASE DEEDS WERE ISSUED FOR ADDITIONAL CONSTRUCTION IN SOME OF THE CASES, WHETHER THE SUPPLEMENTARY LEASE DEED WILL ALSO BE TAKEN INTO ACCOUNT WHILE CONVERTING TO FREEHOLD.
The conversion to freehold will be considered only for the property included in the original lease deed. Unless Supplementary Lease Deeds are executed in respect of all the properties in a given block, they will not be taken into account for conversion to freehold. However, in respect of commercial premises, the supplementary lease deed will also be taken into account.
13. HOW TO DEAL WITH THE CASES WHERE THE REVISION OF GROUND RENT HAS BECOME DUE?
In cases where revision of ground rent has become due but has not been revised before the receipt of conversion application, the ground rent would be charged @ five times of the original ground rent w.e.f. the date on which the revision has become due.
14. ON WHAT GROUNDS THE CONVERSION APPLICATION WILL BE REJECTED?
The Conversion application will be rejected on any of the following grounds: –
-
- When there is a pending litigation about the title of the property.
- When the lease stood determined/cancelled or the property stood re-entered.
- When there is a pending litigation between the lessee and lesser.
- When the property is mortgaged and No Objection Certificate for conversion obtained from the mortgagee is not enclosed with the application.
- When the application is signed by a person who is not eligible to apply for conversion
- If the applicant is a General Power of Attorney holder and the conversion is to be granted in favour of the purchaser and if there is no documents to evidence the transaction in favour of the purchaser.
- When the applicant is holder of Power of Attorney and the conversion is to be granted in favour of the purchaser and there is no evidence produced in support of the possession of the premises with the purchaser.
- When the allottee of the plot did not complete the construction of the building and does not produce any evidence in this regard.
- When the charges payable under different heads mentioned in the application forms are not fully paid.
- If the property involves encroachment on public land/Government land.
- When the application is incomplete.
15. WHAT IS THE AMOUNTS PAYABLE FOR GETTING THE CONVERSION FROM LEASE HOLD TO FREE FOLD?
1. Conversion fee. (Remission @ 40% of the prescribed fee is admissible to the recorded lessees)
2. Arrears of Ground Rent, including Revised Ground Rent, if any.
3. Misuses charges/ damages charges, if any recoverable.
4. Balance of cost of land / premium, if any
5. Arrears of any other dues earlier levied by the lessor and not paid by the lessee.
6. A surcharge of 33.1/3% of conversion fee, if the applicant is a GPA holder and conversion is to be granted in favour of
a third person.
7. Processing fee of Rs.500/-.
16. HOW LONG DOES IT TAKE TO GRANT CONVERSION AND ISSUE CONVEYANCE DEED?
The grant of conversion will be communicated within three to four months from the date the application complete in all respects is submitted along with complete payments.
17. WHAT DOCUMENTS WILL BE ISSUED TO EVIDENCE THE GRANT OF CONVERSION?
A conveyance deed will be issued by the L&DO, Nirman Bhawan once the property has been converted into freehold. The conveyance deed will then have to stamped and registered in the registrar office within four months.