MHADA's costliest flat in Mumbai fails to attract buyers

The Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority (MHADA)’s costliest flat worth ₹7.57 crore in Tardeo with an area of 1,531 square feet, reserved for MPs and MLAs is struggling to find an owner as BJP MLA Narayan Kuche, who won the flat in the lottery on August 14 and MP Dr Bhagwat Karad who was on the waiting list did not come forward to purchase the flat.

According to a Hindustan Times report, Kuche, an MLA from BJP’s Badnapur constituency in Jalna district had won the MHADA’s most expensive flat in its lottery. Out of seven flats in the lottery, one was reserved for legislators, including MLAs, MPs and former MLAs and former MPs. Within a few weeks of winning, Kuche surrendered the flat to MHADA stating a financial crunch. As per the rules, union minister of state for finance Dr Bhagwat Karad then became the claimant of the flat as he had applied to buy the property.

As per the procedure, after the winner surrenders the flat or fails to fulfil the formalities related to documents or money, the person on the waiting list becomes eligible to claim the flat. But Dr Karad who was on the waiting list for this particular flat has not submitted the documents to finalise the property.” said an official from MHADA.“In such cases, the flat will be transferred to a person on the general waiting list,” added the official.

In May 2023, MHADA had put 4,082 mostly affordable homes priced between Rs 24 lakh and Rs 7.57 crore up for sale. The apartment won by Kuche is in Tardeo, South Mumbai, and has an area of over 1,500 square feet. It is in the High-Income Group (HIG) category.About 93 percent of the homes put on sale in the Mumbai real estate market by MHADA were for the Economically Weaker Section (EWS) and the Lower Income Group (LIG), with the rest earmarked for the Middle Income (MIG) and High-Income Group (HIG)Of the 4,082 apartments, over 2,700 are meant for the EWS category, and over 1,000 for the LIG segment, while 130 have been set aside for the MIG and around 120 for the HIG category. As per the MHADA Act, 2 percent of the total homes sold in a lottery by the authority are reserved for MPs and MLAs. Of the total of 4,082 apartments up for sale, about 80 were reserved for MPs/MLAs/MLCs in this year's Mumbai Board lottery, according to MHADA.The other apartments in the 2023 MHADA lottery are spread across localities such as Vikhroli, Antop Hill, Goregaon, Dadar, Wadala, Andheri, Kandivali, Malad, Byculla, Tardeo, Juhu, Chembur, Powai, Chandivali and Sion.