PMAY Is Useful For You Even If Your Parents Own A Home. Here's How.

The Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY) has been a source of housing for beneficiaries from 4,026 cities including 468 class I cities across the country. 

But, the one question that many are asking is: Can one own a home under the PMAY scheme if my parent or I already own a house? The answer is, Yes and No. Here's why. The eligibility criteria clearly state the following:

“A beneficiary family will comprise husband, wife and unmarried children. The beneficiary family should not own a pucca house (an all-weather dwelling unit) either in his/her name or in the name of any member of his/her family in any part of India.” As long as you are unmarried, you are not eligible for this scheme if your parents already own a home. However, if you are married, you are treated as a separate household. Do note that even in this case, either you or your spouse shouldn't be a home owner already.

Note: In case you are unmarried and belong to the Economically Weaker Section (EWS) or Low Income Group (LIG), your mother should be the co-owner of this property.

How do the officials scrutinise such details?

To ensure that the beneficiary falls under the eligibility criteria, the authorities insist on the Aadhar card details of all the family members, especially if the beneficiary is processing the subsidy under the PMAY Credit-Linked Subsidy Scheme (CLSS) for MIG I and MIG II schemes (MIG: Medium Income Group). With this, the authorities will be able to track if the next time anyone from the same family applies for the subsidy.

Moreover, to streamline the reporting on the progress of the scheme, there is a Management Information System (MIS) in place. The system can help track individual beneficiaries within minutes and also, facilitates error-proof information for easy access of all the stakeholders- Centre, states, cities, appraisal agencies and the Central Sanctioning and Monitoring Committee (CSMC) for monitoring purposes.

But, is the scheme useful for you if you already own a house?

Yes. According to a circular released by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation (MHUPA) reads, “It may be noted that through PMAY(U) mission, the Government is not only addressing the issue of the urban houses but also seeks to address the issue of congestion in urban households through the enhancement/incremental housing initiative. This is sought to be achieved through the enhancement of the existing pucca house. Declining to entertain an application for enhancement/incremental housing under the PMAY (U) mission solely on the ground that the individual already has a pucca house is, thus, an incorrect interpretation of the scheme guidelines.”

Note: The new scheme of CLSS for mid-income groups (MIG) was launched in January, 2017 and is valid for one year, initially. While the new CLSS (MIG) covers people with income of up to Rs 12 lakh and Rs 18 lakh per year, the CLSS component of PMAY (Urban) launched in June, 2015 is applicable to EWS and LIG covers urban poor with income levels of Rs 3-6 lakh per year, respectively.

Under CLSS (EWS/LIG), interest subsidy of 6.50 per cent is being provided on a loan of up to Rs 6 lakh. Tenure of this loan is now increased to 20 years from the earlier 15 years, to enable easy repayments. Total interest subsidy available to each beneficiary under this component is Rs 2.30 lakh.  The subsidy will be available only for loan amounts up to Rs 6 lakh and additional loans beyond Rs. 6 lakhs, if any, will be at a non-subsidised rate. A credit-linked subsidy would be available for housing loans availed for new construction and the addition of rooms, kitchen, toilet etc. to existing dwellings as incremental housing. The carpet area of houses being constructed under this component of the mission should be up to 30 sq mt and 60 sq mt for EWS and LIG.

CLSS for MIG will support acquisition as well as the construction of the house (including re-purchase) of 90 sq mt and 110 sq mt carpet area as per income eligibility.

Achievements as notified in a review meeting held in April, 2017.

• All the states/UTs except Delhi have signed the Memorandum of Agreement with the Government of India to implement PMAY(U).

• As on March 31, 2017, 17.73 lakh houses have been accepted for Central assistance of Rs 27,879 crore and a total investment of Rs 93,473 crore. This includes Rs 523.61 crore disbursed towards loan subsidy to 28,442 beneficiaries under the Credit Linked Subsidy Scheme or CLSS.

• Top three performing states in the mission (excluding CLSS) are Tamil Nadu, Madhya Pradesh, and Gujarat.

• Top five performing states in CLSS are Gujarat, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Rajasthan.

 Also Read: Private Developers And Lukewarm Reaction To PMAY, What Can Trigger Participation