Building code violations: CDA mulls regularising flat ownership transfers

Many such buildings lack completion certificates.

ISLAMABAD: The Capital Development Authority (CDA) is considering a proposal to double the transfer fee for residential and commercial plots, besides regularising the transfer system for flats in high-rise buildings in the capital.

The CDA has ‘lost’ significant revenue in the absence of a comprehensive mechanism to collect transfer fees for flats in the 35-plus high-rise buildings in the city.

Now the agency has decided to charge Rs250 per square yard as transfer fee for such apartments. “To collect the transfer fee, the CDA first needs to regularize high-rise buildings across the city,” said an Estate wing official.

He said building owners would be asked to obtain completion certificates for their properties in the first phase.

“The irregularity starts here, as during construction of high-rises, contractors commit many violations. They do not adhere to building plans submitted with the authority before initiating construction,” the official said, adding that due to building violations, owners do not bother to obtain completion certificates.

To facilitate the owners, the authority plans to compound low-level violations, while greater violations would be fined, and upon the submission of that fine, the violations would be regularised.

The proposal still needs the approval of the CDA Board. The authority collects around Rs3 billion per annum through transfer fee from plots.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 1^st, 2013.