Housing department to auction commercial shops in double bedroom housing complexes

Hyderabad Housing Department will auction 1,242 commercial shops in double bedroom complexes across Rangareddy and Medchal districts, aiming to raise Rs 300 crore, ensuring maintenance funds for residents after rental issues led to prolonged vacancies and revenue losses

Hyderabad: The Housing Department has issued notifications for auctioning the commercial shops constructed in the double bedroom housing complexes in Hyderabad, Rangareddy and Medchal Malkajgiri districts.

In all, 1,242 commercial shops are being sold in the auctions in the three districts. The open public auction of the shops is being conducted on April 9 and 10 in Rangareddy district.

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A few shops constructed in the double bedroom housing complexes in Sangareddy are also to be auctioned. A notification to this effect is likely to be issued in a couple of days.

The BRS government had constructed commercial shops in the ground floors of the towering double bedroom housing complexes at different places. The idea was to meet the monthly maintenance expenditure of these complexes through the rent earned from the shops.

However, since many months the shops at many complexes have been vacant and residents were finding it difficult to cover the monthly expenditure. BRS MLA from Qutbullapur KP Vivekanand had raised the issue during the budget session in the Assembly.

He wanted the government to rent out the shops facilitating the residents to meet the monthly maintenance expenditure. Against this, the housing department has decided to sell the shops through open auctions.

In the past, when the department had rented or leased the shops, the owners, after paying the rents for a few months, evaded the rents. Later, using political influence, the tenants used to evade rent payments for years. They eventually approached courts and secured stay orders, a senior official from the Housing Department said.

To avoid legal issues and ensure revenue for the residents’ welfare associations in the complexes, the department has decided to auction the shops. The amount earned from the shops auction would be deposited in a joint bank account to be operated by local municipal officials and residents associations’ office bearers, the official explained.

Depending on the locality, the upset price has been fixed at Rs.1,500 to Rs.5,000 per sft in Rangareddy district. The department aims to generate revenue of about Rs.300 crore through the auction of commercial shops in the three districts, the official added.