A perfect is the dream of many home buyers. Hunting for an ideal home can be a tedious task. For instance, you may like the location, but the apartment’s size or the price may not be feasible for you. Though there are now various lenders offering home loans at affordable home loan interest rates, buying a perfect home is not easy and requires a lot of decision-making.
The need for space gets more intense when your family grows, and you have to manage things within budget restrictions. Or the size of the new apartment you are looking for is too small. Under such similar circumstances, it may sound prudent to consider combining two adjacent flats to use as one large unit, which may come at a relatively lesser price than one big flat.
However, a prospective buyer should be aware of the pros and cons of combining two adjacent flats as one unit.
Pros
- Buying/combining two adjacent flats might work out to be cheaper than buying one big flat. However, the same would depend on the location of the flats.
- Customized flats are available. Remodeling of flats can be undertaken as per customer preferences. For instance, customers can join two living rooms from adjacent flats to get one large and spacious living room.
- Tax benefits are available. For instance, as per the decision by Bombay High Court, two adjacent flats purchased from two different people via two different agreements and then combined into one single flat with a shared kitchen get the benefit of exemption from capital gains tax.
Cons
- Some states/housing societies do not allow combining two adjacent flats into one, so state/society bye-laws should be given due consideration.
- The flats’ owner may require special permission to obtain necessary permits from the relevant authorities, which could be time-consuming.
- Additional costs could be incurred owing to paperwork for authority permissions.
- Customization of combined flats is beneficial for the owner. However, if any remodeling work involves major alterations to the combined flats, the remodeling cost could go up to a few lakhs.
- Two adjacent flats entail ownership of two different flats, so maintenance charges and taxes should be paid accordingly.
- Inappropriate design of the combined flat could lead to a lot of wasted and unused spaces.
Should a Buyer Combine Two Adjacent Flats?
Anyone who wants to buy two adjacent flats and combine them into one flat will have ownership of two different flats only, so taxes and maintenance charges will be applied accordingly for each flat separately.
If the family needs to separate the two combined flats later due to any reason, it can be easily done as there are two separate agreements. However, the buyer must understand the state and society’s various bye-laws to get all the legal aspects right. Some states are against combining two flats, while in others, many regulations/bye-laws could make the whole process cumbersome.
Getting permission from authorities may not be easy. The home loan and home loan interest rates available to potential owners of combined flats may also vary from lender to lender.
Conclusion
Combining two adjacent flats to use as one is a good idea if the buyer properly understands the pros and cons of such an arrangement. Now, with home loan EMI calculators readily available with most lenders like Tata Capital, one can easily customize their home loans at attractive home loan interest rates. For more information on home loans, visit Tata Capital.
