Complying with Law: Dos & Don’ts of Real Estate

[Noor E Alam]

In order to establish a successful housing plan, one must comply with the specifications that the law of the nation demands. There are many different demands, depending on the country. For instance, when a foreigner is trying to invest in a property in Peru, the property in question must be 50 kilometres within the boundary of the country, while Colombia shows a more liberal attitude by giving foreigners equal rights as the citizens.
When it comes to real estate, our home country – Bangladesh, too has a set of rules to comply to. Therefore, we listed some 'Dos' and 'Don'ts' to create a better overview.
First of all; every building in Bangladesh is under the speculation and scrutiny of RAJUK whether to be approved or not. Some of the much-highlighted aspects that this regulatory body focuses on are the following;

DO
• Inside the house, the window must be of 15% of the room area according to the Bangladesh National Building Code. This is to ensure that in residential areas, houses are designed with adequate ventilations.
• In residential homes, the width of the staircases must be at least 1.15 m. anything less is perceived as a threat to the lives of people living there.
• In cases of buildings directly adjacent to national or zonal highways; locations within 250m radius area of landscapes like hills, lakes or heritage sites; building area equal or more than 7500 sqm (FAR included) and any such project, 'special project clearance' approval must be taken from RAJUK in order to proceed with the construction.

Don'ts
• Buildings are not eligible for clearance by RAJUK without sufficient fire safety measures. It must be ensured that the distance between two fire exits must not be more than 33m and exceeding this limit means incorporating approval for another emergency fire stair.
• It is of utmost importance that the real estate developers get approval from the following government bodies before starting construction as otherwise, the building will be considered illegal: WASA, Traffic, DESA, Environment, Civil Aviation, FIRE Department, City Corporation, DTCB and Ward Councillor.
• Building are to be constructed in areas in accordance to the occupancy category. In order to ensure sustainable urban development, areas allocated for factories cannot have residential buildings while commercial areas cannot accommodate for children's' playgrounds.

Source:- http://www.lamudi.com.bd/journal/complying-with-law-dos-donts-of-real-estate/