Rising Apartment Rents – Pitfall of Delhi Sealing Drive

If you are planning to opt for rent apartment in and around Delhi at this time of the year, it’s better to wait for sometime, that is if you can wait. The rent situation in the satellite towns of Noida, Gurgaon and Faridabad is equally grave. In Gurgaon, homes for rent are most sought after due to the largely immigrant workforce employed in the booming service sector.

While Gurgaon rental properties always commanded a steep price, the recent sealing drive by the Delhi government has inevitably resulted into a chaotic situation as far as Gurgaon rentals are concerned.

The Delhi sealing drive which has drawn mixed bag reaction from the different strata of population, is largely aimed at curbing the mushrooming of illegal business establishments and thereby, reducing the congestion on the Delhi roads and localities.

Sealing drive by the government is historic because the illegalities consumed by the Delhi public over the years had assumed the position similar to, what law term as, “adverse possession”, where if you are in peaceful possession of a property that is rightfully not yours for a certain period of time; you are as good as the real owner. Though technically, this is not the situation here, but the blatant flagration of building bylaws over the years had become part of life of average Delhi resident.

The result of this drive is the uprooting of thousands of traders from their business premises. This has led to a great surge in the demand for commercial property in and around Delhi.

This has acted as a spark in an already volatile real estate sector in the region. Over the past couple of months, the prices of both residential and commercial properties in Gurgaon have seen a quantum jump. And thanks to the Delhi sealing drive, the property owners are reaping a rich reward in the form of enhanced rentals.