Book flats from Sobha Developers at your own risk

There are many reasons, why you should be careful before booking flats with Sobha Developers. I will list down the main areas of concern below:

1) Delivery Delays (my project delayed by 1.5 Yrs and still not sure of exact handover date...this could be longer)

2) Be ready to lose 25% of project cost...by the time they deliver, your net project cost would have gone up by 20-25% (my experience)

3) Careful with their agreement clauses.

4) Careful with their payment schedule...this has no relevance to their construction progress.

5) Careful with their sales promises...knowingly or unknowingly they may be cheating you (my personal experience) and management does not care about those promises.


Delivery Always late:

I have booked a flat in Sobha Iris in January 2006. The flat was supposed to be ready by February 2007. The delivery was postponed 3 times till now. Sobha gives a date and when the date nears they postpone it by 6 months. The current promised completion date is end-July’08 (mind you...it’s completion date but not handover date!). Even if they handover in Aug’08 it’s a good 1.5 Yrs delay.

Financial Loss:

If you book a Sobha flat, be ready for a loss of about Rs.10 lac. I have calculated my financial loss to be about Rs.11 Lac (assuming delivery will be in Aug’08. If it delays further, then be prepared for more losses).

Do they cheat ?:

Am not sure whether it is intentional. We were given a payment schedule and were told by their sales that the construction will be completed as per that schedule. However, 96% of the payments have been collected by Aug-2007 (means 96% of the construction should have been completed) and the rest 4% takes more than an year !! It means, Sobha completed that part of the project which gets them money on time and conveniently delays the rest for any period as they have already got their money (including profits!!). Very efficient cash flow planning with customers money indeed !! Mind you, they are right to have collected the money, if you look at the agreement wording. I only hope that this is not a new form of organizational cheating.

Agreement Terms:

They are mostly one-sided. They also charge hefty Advocate fee from customers. This basically means you are paying the advocate fee to have the agreements designed for the benefit of the "Other Party". Considering that all the agreements use the same format - Advocate fee is really wonderful profit margin !
Be cautious of delay clauses : What happens if the project is delayed ? Developers may also have a clause to pay penalty on delay. But look at these clauses carefully to see when they are not applicable and argue with them to change suitably.

Be cautious of Payment Schedule:

Ask them questions on, what it means in terms of actual completion. Most probably, you will pay all the money at least 1 yr in advance, though they claim otherwise !!!
Ask them questions on sharing of financial loss. e.g. if they delay the project by 1-2 years, govt may increase taxes & levies. If the increase is substantial, then you will lose a lot.

Sobha Developers - Sobha Iris - Customers loose Sobha Wins

Sobha’s reputation as a dependable builder both in terms of quality & delivery made me opt for them. However in reality my experience has been quite the opposite. On quality - I do not know yet as they claim to have German engineers certifying each apartment. This also needs to be verified as rumors abound that they have done away with German certification. On the delivery side the project is already delayed by 1 year and by the time the handover is made it looks like it will be another 6 months.

Whatever the reasons I have lost substantially, in terms of interest on amounts paid, higher registration, electricity and water levies etc. An approximate amount would be Rs 10 lakhs as losses.

Sobha has displayed a ’don’t care’ attitude to the several queries and demands to share/compensate losses taking cover behind one sided agreements. Customers are not eligible for compensation for delays if they opt for even minor modifications, say changing color of floor tiles or adding electrical switches. Ridiculous by any sense!

Please be extremely careful when signing agreements with them. Fortunately it is a buyer’s market and all intending buyers should ensure a win position as much as possible.

Sobha Developers provide sub-standard services to customers in the name of “quality”

I recently bought one apartment with Sobha in Bangalore. Here they don't have any amenities like club house, swimming pool, children's pay area etc in the apt complex. Instead they are building a common facility about 500 m away for about 7 apartment complexes in the vicinity. But it still will have only one swimming pool and badminton court for about 1500 families!

Can imagine a Kumbh Mela during summer times near the swimming pool. Sobha is cutting too much corners to save money and provide sub-standard services to customers in the name of “quality”. They also hiked the BWSSB and BESCOM charges to about Rs 100 psqft and refuses to provide receipts from respective agencies. Service tax was collected from us and was apparently not paid to the tax department since it is not required any more. However Sobha refuses to acknowledge this and keeps the money. Not sure how such “reputed” builders get away with such tactics.

Sobha Developers Informing About the delays at the last minute

Hi Everyone here,
I share the same thoughts of those written in the posts here.
The project in which i booked the flat is already 1 year delayed and i am seeing another 6 month(minimum) delay. even at the 11th hour, these guys are not able to give the next expected date.

As per the sale deed, its a one sided agreement. If you make any mod, even shift a electrical point by one inch, you are not going to get the penalty promised for delayed delivery.

CRM has no decision making power, do not know whats happening in the project, do not know if project is understaffed etc… its just a front office just to make sure you don't hurl abuse over frustration direct to the site engineer or project director. If you ask to meet any higher ups, they will take you to CRM’s GM who is another ill informed fellow with no power.

So be prepared for delays and be cautious while going for Sobha Developers. I hope PNC reads this.

Regards,
Jeeth

Employees of Sobha Developers - Liars

Sobha is like any other builder, although they call themselves world class builder. They have sales personnel who have no commitment and promise moon to the buyer and disappear from the company. The employee attrition is main reason for customer grievance. Sobha Sunscape is supposed to be a Dream series project and they do not allow any modification like change of tiles etc. in spite of the buyer willing to pay the difference.

As regards project completion, know one knows when it would be handed over. However, we promptly get the demand notices and even one day delay in realization of cheque, interest would be charged. I don't what access road the sunscape project would have as today there is no proper road to the building from Kanakapura road or NICE road.

Sobha Developers never keeps it promises

Grievance by Natraj:

I booked a flat with Sobha in Bangalore early 2007.

1. For one, it is supposed to be a “super luxury” series with good carpet area and ample scope for customization. But in reality, I was very disappointed with the fittings. For example, all the sanitaryware are in white no matter the floor/tile color. If you want to change them, Sobha charges an arm and a leg (see later on customization)

2. Insist on seeing the Sale and Construction agreement BEFORE you give the deposit amount!! But, I bet the sales guy will dodge your request. There are lot of hidden clauses which make it totally a one sided agreement.

3. Sobha hates to accommodate any changes! In fact, the construction agreement has this one sided clause which says that if you many any mods/changes from the original specification, they are not obligated to pay ANY compensation in case of delay in handing over, regardless of the how long the delay is.

4. In spite of this, if you are bold and make any changes, they charge a hefty amount. It is actually a money making scam. For example, they charged 3 times the amount for upgrading the EWC (toilet) from Hindware white to Parryware color!!! And they are least bothered when you bring this to their notice. There attitude is: your neck is now in our hands, scream all you want!!!

5. The project is already delayed. The latest dates they have communiated to me is July 2009!! This is at least nearly 1.5 years late!!!

They have been blaming everybody but themselves for it. I feel they don’t give a damn about residential projects anymore… It is a necessary nuisance for them. Their focus is on commercial properties now.

As far as I am concerned, Sobha is no longer the desired choice when it comes to residential real estate.

My strong suggestion is for the customers to rally together and sue them in a court of law. I am sure we have a strong case.

Theft by Sobha Developers

We received this Grievance by Anjan Ghosh:

I have had a similar issue. I put down a deposit on the condition that they arrange finance for me (I am an Indian living abroad), the booking form said that they would take 0% in event of cancellation. However I found out that they rejected the booking form agreement, however they still went ahead and cashed my cheque. I cancelled before they cashed the cheque (it takes over a month for the transfer to happen from the UK bank) however they are still skimming off Rs.75,000 from my deposit.

This amounts to theft, so I am talking to the authorities to start up a fraud case against them. However, I would not recommending doing business with them. The Sales Manager Mr Anil (Bangalore) stated in front of independent witnesses that "as Head of Sales I have decided to return the full amount", despite which they are still scamming me for Rs. 75,000.