After DLF, Unitech has restive customers to soothe

Unitech Ltd, the country’s second-largest realty player, is having to handle customer ire at one of its premium housing projects in the suburban city of Gurgaon.

This comes right after DLF, the largest property developer, brought out a range of measures to soothe restive customers at a couple of other housing projects at Gurgaon.

The Unitech customer ire is due to alleged delay in completion of World Spa, apartments and villas that carry an average price tag of over Rs 1 crore per unit. “The property was scheduled for delivery in the second half of 2006. Two years later, more than half has not yet been delivered, with no completion date in sight. And the complex is far from finished,” complained a customer.

Customers said their mails and pleas to Unitech had been ignored. World Spa has over 350 apartments in two projects — Spa East and Spa West. While there are 159 apartments in five towers in the East, the Spa West has six towers that house 208 apartments. Customers say Unitech has collected over Rs 450 crore, constituting 90 per cent of the payment.

Unitech officials, however, deny the charges and say the project is on track. “The release of World Spa has started and all six towers in Spa East have been offered for possession. One tower in Spa West has also been released. The rest of the towers will be released progressively in the next few months,” said a spokesperson.

Company officials said the delay in Spa West was caused by customers’ demand for structural changes. “The West towers are structurally complete and finishing touches need some more months. The delay happened after a group of buyers approached us in 2007, asking for major changes in the project. We tried to incorporate the changes, hence the delay,” said the officials.

Unitech added the payments were “construction linked”, which suggested that 90 per cent payment would mean that 95 per cent of the project was complete. The company is planning to meet the customers during the week to clear their apprehensions.

The customers are yet to be convinced. They are hinting at beginning with peaceful public demonstrations to “sensitise” Unitech.

Customers complain that cash-strapped realty majors are delaying the completion of residential projects after taking hefty advance payments. To address such feelings, DLF is in the process of announcing project-specific “relief packages” — including price cuts — for its customers.