BENGALURU : Taking advantage of the vulnerability and lack of support for the residents of a retirement home at Devanahalli, a service provider in connivance with the promoter has taken control of the place. Collection of high maintenance fee, non-renewal of lift insurance for three years, absence of fire safety certification for this multi-storeyed building and refusal to return the refundable deposit of Rs 10 crore are some of the glaring issues. A Karnataka Real Estate Regulatory Authority (K-RERA) court on Thursday (Jan 11) issued an order to keep their hopes alive.

The Serene Urbana Apartments has 318 flat owners with the average age of the senior citizens at 79. They bought the flats between February and August 2017 paying around Rs 70 lakh. But life has been anything but peaceful, they say.

Faced with a plethora of problems created by Columbia Pacific Communities Pvt Ltd, the Serene Urbana Apartment Owners Welfare Association, in which 230 flat owners are members, approached RERA.

Association secretary R Krishnaswamy (81) told TNIE, “Columbia entered our apartment as a service provider only to cater to our needs. With the connivance of the promoter Ozone Urban Infra Developers Pvt Ltd, they have taken charge of the place. Common areas need to be handed over to the association. But Columbia collects a hefty maintenance fee for all common areas. They charge Rs 9 per square foot at present and for my 3 BHK, the maintenance charge works out to roughly Rs 13,000.”

Rs 9.56 crore was collected from all flat owners as a refundable deposit, but the money is not being returned, he added. “Most senior citizens do not have the strength to fight for their rights and a few owners have even passed away. For a few of us, this is a Dharma Yudh and we want to do it for Sarat Chandran, our former secretary, who passed away last year waiting for justice,” he said.

An interim order by RERA-K is in favour of the association. The order, a copy of which is with TNIE, says Ozone Urbana Infra Developers Pvt Ltd had transferred the corpus fund to Columbia Pacific Communities instead of the Association. Respondent No. 5 (Columbia) collecting maintenance charges from April 2017 even before the occupancy certificate was issued has gone against the law, it said.

G Suriya Narayanan, the advocate for the association, said, “It is sad to see that the retirement home allottees have been taken for a royal ride at such an old age.” There has been a central government order G.O No. 83 which specifies the guidelines to be followed by retirement homes. Tamil Nadu has implemented it, but Karnataka has made no progress, he added.