BACK ENTRY? GOOD DEAL!

Floors with a back entry need not put off prospective tenants as their rents are, on an average, 30% less than those with a front entry,

Rajesh Malhotra knows the back lanes of New Rajinder Nagar like the back of his palm. As he goes out for his job every morning and returns only in the late evenings, he has no idea about the front lanes of his area.

As Rajesh has been living on the second floor of a house with a backside entry rather than main gate entry, he hardly goes through the main lanes of his area. Even though he and his family members have to take the stairs at the back of the house, he is still happy. He says for just taking the backdoor entry to his house, he pays almost 30% less rent compared to tenants who have a front side entry to their house.

While builders are changing the very face of private colonies in Delhi by joining hands with owners and landlords in order to build floors after razing down old houses and kothis, there are still many houses here where the occupants of first and second floors have to take the back entry to reach their floor.

New Rajinder Nagar, Patel Nagar, Rajouri Garden, Kirti Nagar - almost all of South and North Delhi colonies, and some areas in East Deli like Vivek Vihar , Nirman Vihar and Preet Vihar too have houses with exclusive front entry for the owner of the house. Residents of first and second floor houses have no choice but to take the back entry.

Devender Gupta, CMD of Century 21 India, says it is bad news for all those who have a limited budget as such houses are giving way to brand new houses. "I am saying bad news because houses with backdoor entry can be taken on rent on far less rent than the market rates. If somebody wants to buy a floor with back entry, it can be taken on really less amount, compared to those houses with main-gate entry," Gupta concludes.

Alimuddin Rafi Ahmad of ILD group says houses with separate entries would become a thing of the past in the years ahead. "Such houses are old and they have to be demolished, so that new houses with only one entry can be made", he says.

Ashok Singh, who works for a media house, has also been living in a house in East of Kailash, which has a back entry. Even then, he is not an unhappy man. Ashok says, "When I came here around seven years ago, the state of affairs at the back lane of my house were really bad. Residents have converted the back lane as an all-purpose dustbin. During those days, it was really tough getting to my house after crossing the filthy back lane. Things have improved and now I have no problem in taking the back lane in order to reach my place," he says.

On the question of rents going for lesser rates for such houses, Anil Makhijani of Mak Realtors says it is very natural for two reasons. Of course, back entry is factor one. The second being that the first and second floors of such houses have far less covered area than the ground floor. Naturally, these factors play a crucial role in determining the rent and costs of the houses.

Courtesy:- ET Realty dt:- 07-08-09