- Bribe Fighter
- 14 years ago
- 1508 views
Refused to pay bribe for registering my apartment
We purchased a flat in Bangalore thru a real estate egent. While discussing the list of documents required for registration, one key thing agent told us was the bribe to be paid at the time of registration. I was clear that I will not pay a penny extra other than the govt. fees to be paid for registration. Agent then came up with a story that, if I don't pay bribe, I will not be able to do the registration easily (first time itself) and I will have to make multiple visits for registration as officials will ask for one or the other documents . To my surprise, when I discussed this with my lawyer, he also pointed out the same thing and informed me that he will charge me for each visit for registration. When I asked my lawyer what could be these possible documents which the officials ask for and why can't he list them upfront, he acted ignorant. Then when I told him that I am paying him the fees and he has to tell me about the entire set of documents required for registration, he openly admitted that, it has nothing to do with the documents and if I cannot pay the bribe or his fees for multiple visits, then I can look for other lawyers. It was then clear that,it is not just the officials, there is a big racket of lawyers and real estate agents who are part of this corruption. Of course, I went ahead without the help of my lawyer and got the property registered with the help of abother lawyer. I was glad that I could register the property without paying a bribe, however , later on(after the registration) I came to know from my real estate agent that he paid them the bribe from his fees (1% which I gave him).