THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Senior citizens with inherited property can also get loans now under the Reverse Mortgage Loan facility announced by the Central Government in the 2007-08 Union Budget. The scheme was introduced by the National Housing Bank, but nationalised as well as scheduled commercial banks had put a spoke in its implementation by denying loan to senior citizen borrowers with inherited property. Banks rejected their applications insisting that loans can be granted only if the property was “self -occupied and self- acquired with a clear title”.The banks were forced to review the scheme because of the one-man struggle undertaken by S Gopalakrishnan Nair, 70, of Resmi, T/C 2024, Chirakulam Road, Thiruvananthapuram. He was shocked when he approached five nationalised banks in 2010 for a loan under the RML facility. The banks flatly refused to consider his application on the ground that his house was built on inherited property.“Though I have owned the land and house for the last 38 years and have a clear title deed and freehold without encumbrances, the banks were of the view that I should have a sale deed to claim RML,” he told Express.He wrote to the chairman and MD of the NHB in April 2010. But he got no reply for months. Following this, he approached Shashi Tharoor MP seeking his intervention.Taking a serious note of the issue, Tharoor wrote to the NHB CMD R V Verma pointing out that it was incongruous and even silly to insist that the words “self -acquired’’ should exclude ownership based on inheritance. “The inherited property also should be considered if the title of the property is clear,’’ he insisted.Verma wrote to Tharoor that the rationale behind the clause “self -occupied, self- acquired and clear tittle’’ in the guidelines was to safeguard the interest of the lenders and not to prohibit inherited properties. Later, the NHB sent a circular memorandum to all lending agencies in this regard and advised them to consider the senior citizen borrowers with inherited property also.As per the original scheme, parents who own a self-occupied house and a small piece of land, can mortgage it in a bank and withdraw equated monthly or quarterly instalment of the loan amount for 20 years to sustain themselves. The children or the legal heir of the senior citizens can repay the amount and get the property released within the stipulated loan period of 15 to 20 years or after the death of borrower whichever is earlier. In case they fail to repay, the property would be attached and auctioned and the legitimate amount would be claimed by the lenders.
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