☕ Ignorance is bliss


Good morning, here's a fact - Monday is the day of the week between Sunday and Tuesday. According to the International Organization for Standardization's ISO 8601 standard, it is the first day of the week. 

In countries that adopt the "Sunday-first" convention, it is the second day of the week. The name Monday comes from Old English Mōnandæg and Middle English Monenday, originally a translation of Latin dies lunae "day of the Moon".

Here's a myth - Monday morning blues can be beaten by coffee. 

Stick to Chai. It works. 😁

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LEGAL

Can't Claim This



Our country is full of unpleasant tales about long-serving caretakers and servants making a claim to properties in part or full and sometimes, even getting away with it. 

Once in a while, even a high court or two agree and grant caretakers relief and rights. 

Thanks to the Supreme Court, this ridiculous claiming thingy has now been settled once and for all.

Tell Us More

Last week, the Supreme Court quashed the order of a trial court and high court, which had refused to allow the plea of an owner, who had asked the courts not to proceed on a suit filed by a caretaker, seeking that he should not be vacated from the property, where he had served for a long time.

Further to that, the apex court ruled that a caretaker/servant can never acquire interest in any property, irrespective of his long service/stay/possession and such a caretaker must vacate the premises on the owner’s demand.

The Backstory

The property in question had recently changed hands via sale and the new owner wanted the old caretaker to pack his bags and leave the premises for good. The caretaker (who obviously had a lawyer friend) threw the lawbook at the owner and the case went up to the high court, without any relief to the owner.  

Turns out, the new property owner was chai buddies with even bigger lawyers, who reached the supreme court and this landmark decision ensued.

The Specifics

The caretaker had filed a suit seeking a declaration that he is the lawful occupier as caretaker/ servant of the sole owner of the property.

He had also sought permanent injunction to restrain the owner from disturbing or evicting him from the property.

In response, Justice Ajay Rastogi quoted, “In our considered view, the order of the trial judge, which has been confirmed by the high court impugned in the instant proceeding, is not sustainable on the first principles of law."

"Consequently, the appeal succeeds and is allowed. The order of the high court is, hereby, quashed and set aside,” he added and directed the caretaker to hand over possession of the property within three months, putting an end to a double-XL day dream. 

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BUTTER TOAST


Despite the hostile terrain and numerous landslides, this month Himachal Pradesh became the first state to administer at least one COVID-19 vaccine dose in all its adults.

Here's a shout out to all the frontline workers of the state for vaccinating people against all odds

Today's Butter Toast goes out to all of you! 🙌

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PROPTECH

Interstellar Growth


Remember how it was like to invest in stocks before the internet? You probably don't because you never had the opportunity to fill out complicated forms in triplicate, write out checks and wait to hear from your stockbroker on your landline phone, when you got home for dinner. 

But thanks to technology, investing in stocks today is as easy as booking a train ticket or getting your favourite cuisine home-delivered.

There is a clear correlation between investment/consumption and technology. If you want to serve more and more investors/consumers, the only way to do it is by using technology.

Technology and Real Estate Investments

Take the example of Blackstone, a company that has poured billions into properties, ranging from film studios to a megatron* amount of homes in San Francisco.

Per available data, Blackstone was the world’s largest private owner of commercial real estate in 2020 with $378 billion invested. For perspective, that amount is China's entire R&D budget for the current year.

How on earth can home buyers, office space renters, and others looking for property know about these offerings, view them online, make a shortlist and reach Blackstone to close a deal? Dinner time landline calls are probably not a desirable solution.

All of those properties require and benefit solely from implementing the latest technology, especially at the scale Blackstone operates on. Unplug the tech and Blackstone will probably make more money selling tyres by getting an SEO bloke to divert typo traffic from a major tyre manufacturer.

More Investors = More Proptech

Technology that makes property searching easier, enables servicing additional inventory, or disrupts the commercial and residential markets today, is a must have for all companies operating at a large scale.

Combine that ever-growing demand for proptech with the hot venture capital market and you’ve got a recipe for sky-rocketing valuations for proptech startups.

Real estate has long been viewed as one of the last vestiges for innovation and disruption, but with the societal shifts accelerated by the pandemic, this perception is passé. 

And the proptech players positioned at the sweet spot of this squeeze between institutional demand and capital supply are experiencing interstellar growth.

Interstellar Growth? 👀

What else could we call it? Per recent data from Crunchbase, VC-backed proptech firms have raised nearly $11 billion this year already, up 22% from a year ago.

*Megatron is an imaginary sentient robotic lifeform from the planet Cybertron. We used that word just for effect. Sounds darn huge doesn't it? Ditto interstellar. 

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HALF A CUP EXTRA
  • Disgruntled homebuyers from Ansal Fernhill, a housing project in Gurugram's Sector 91, on Saturday staged a protest against the developer over a 11-year delay in possession of their flats. Yes, 11 years. 
  • Real estate developers, mostly in the listed space, are gradually reducing their debt burden. On an aggregate basis, top 10 listed developers in India have been able to cut their consolidated net debt levels by 37% to INR 27,400 crore between March 2020 to June 2021. 
  • Women professionals should come forward to work in the Indian real estate sector, which has immense potential due to rapid urbanisation in the country, Housing and Urban Affairs Secretary Durga Shanker Mishra said. Sharp fellow 👍
  • 📻 Sensible chat - NPR's Lulu Garcia Navarro speaks with Conor Dougherty, an economics reporter at The New York Times, about what a series of new measures mean for California's housing crisis.
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OFF PLAN

Clueless But Buying



Try and wrap your head around this because we can't. 

The GO 111 zone and its surroundings, situated on the outskirts of Hyderabad is a hot real estate destination now.

A quick research reveals that land prices have gone up by over 50% to touch INR 2 crore per acre on an average in the restricted zone. ​​In Shankerpally, mostly falling under the GO 111 zone, the rates are even higher - ranging from INR 3 to INR 5 crore per acre.

What's The Big Deal?

The GO-111 is a precautionary directive issued in 1996 by the government that prohibits any new construction, irrespective of its nature, to protect the two reservoirs responsible for keeping Hyderabad hydrated.

Since this is the main potable water supply source of the megapolis, development up to a 10 kilometre periphery from the lakes could contaminate this natural water supply forever, resulting in a disaster of epic proportions.

Development Update

Most of Moinabad, well under the ‘no-construction’ rule of GO 111, plus other surrounding villages have turned into a realty hotspot. Common sense, it seems has been thrown under the bus.

When Times Group reporters travelled through Moinabad and Shankerpally recently, they found ‘plots for sale’ boards running amok across the villages, while under-construction farmhouses, warehouses and villas were being completed with careless abandon.

“Everybody is buying land here. In fact, the village by lanes get clogged over the weekend with people either driving to their homes in luxury cars, or visiting a prospective property,” a broker told Times of India.

Ignorance Is Bliss

Local realtors, closing up to 100 deals monthly openly comment that the lack of monitoring by authorities, coupled with limited awareness about GO 111 among buyers, are the forces driving the residential market here.

“Now with land in the core city becoming very expensive, plots in Moinabad and Shankerpally are selling like hot cake. Many mid-segment realtors tell their clients that 10% construction is allowed even on GO 111 area and mislead them,” quoted another consultant.

Local farmers now believe that the GO 111 will be scrapped soon.

🤷‍♀️ - us.

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INSTANT KARMA


Sharing your favourite daily email is a great way to start the week. Forward today's Chai with a note to your friends and colleagues, and receive good karma in return. 

BTW, we've noticed that hiring in the real estate sector is picking up steadily. With big hopes from the oncoming festive season, the industry is getting all hands on deck and no one should be complaining about that. 

This week should deliver more positivity, so have a good one.

More updates tomorrow.

☕ The Crew@Ginger Chai

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