LOTUS (Fiji) SOLD 'NIRVANA VILLAS' TO INVESTORS. BIMAN Prasad and SUNIL Chand's grand plan to build villas at Westville, Legalega, in Nadi, 2014. A decade later, sub-lessees still waiting for TLTB Strata titles

EVICTION THREAT: In fact, some lessees have been evicted, some have been threatened with eviction and re-possession of their flats/units, with Lotus (Fiji) accusing the TLTB of not proceeding with the strata titles and creating other difficulties. Legal notices to sub-lessees: 
'Your Occupation is Illegal'.
*We will bring you more on evictions and threats of eviction later.

"The purpose of this proposal is to request TLTB to issue One Head Lease and 30 subleases to the owners of 30 Villas constructed on iTaukei land."

DEVELOPMENT PROPOSAL AND CONCEPT PLAN FOR LOT 1, WESTFIELD SUBDIVISION, NLTB 6/10/4572, LEGALEGA, NADI

The Proposal

The purpose of this proposal is to request TLTB to issue One Head Lease and 30 subleases to the owners of 30 Villas constructed on iTaukei land, described above. The units have not been sold yet will remain under the head lessee. The current list of owners is attached.

The unit title concept/sublease is not new to Fiji as various large scale high end projects e.g. Sheraton Villas at Denarau, Hilton Villas, have used the concept especially in the sale and management of crown land based developments. It may be relatively new when the concept is applied to iTaukei Land. Strata/Unit title concept of apartments, units and villas are the most common method of property developments in Australia and New Zealand.

The strata based ownership has a number of advantages when compared to free standing home and stand-alone properties.

Benefits to Owners

• Cost effectively

It is much more cost effective to own strata based units as the cost of land, construction & infrastructure is shared with many owners. Generally speaking strata titles are around 50% of the cost of stand-alone fully detailed premises.

• Security

Providing 24/7 security guards and a gated compound is highly desirable especially to foreign owners, who may not have permanent occupancy of their units.

• Services

Strata units are more cost effective as they share the common infrastructure, cost of roads, water supply, sewerage, internet and telephone and electricity. The proposed developments have standard connection to all these services, including electricity substantiation.

• Fully self-contained

The apartment are developed and marketed as fully self-contained with all household contents e.g. bedding, kitchen appliances, laundry appliances and furniture included in the purchase. It is providing attraction to buyers who do not need additional funds to purchase these once the house is complete.

• International Buyers

International buyers are well familiar with the strata concept and because of cost effectivity, ideal location, security and maintenance aspects particularly suits international investors, mostly former Fiji national now living abroad.

• Ownership Flexibility

Strata/Unit title properties are sold as unit by unit basis, rather than a company title, where one owner owns and does not need to sell the whole development. Due to the flexibility, it creates liquidity in the sale and purchase of apartments and better capital growth for the owners.

• Location

The development is situated around a km from the Nadi International Airport and in a growth corridor in Fiji. It is ideal for the growing needs of the Nadi Development precinct given that much of Nadi is subject to regular and periodic flooding.

• International Quality Finish

The development has been completed based on Australian standards and used all first quality materials and finish. It has involved specialist and trades people from Australia, working and supervising local workers.  Finishing materials were bought from overseas, including Australia and China.

Benefits to Community
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• Additional Accommodation

Western Fiji is currently struggling to have sufficient accommodation for the demand that has been generated. This strata concept of 30 dwellings is ideal to providing high end residential accommodation to visitors and business people, and international employees.

• Creating a Community

A gated community mixing people of all background creates a modern village community. It encourages neighbourhood and breaks down traditional social barriers. It creates, encourages and fosters community spirit and sharing.

• Resource Allocation

Use of higher density living and compact infrastructure means that the cost to society to provide the services is much more cost effective.

• Industry

By having international organisations and trades people working with local employees creates a perfect training ground for local interns and apprentices. In long term it will help cement a better quality of trade’s people locally.

• Employment

The project provided employment to 100’s of trades people and unemployed people during construction work and permanent roles for property manager, gardeners and security personnel and cleaners and maintenance people.

Benefits to TLTB & Traditional Owners

• Unique Land Utilisation

Rather than buying large parcels of land to individual buyers by having a master lease (Head Lease) and an individual leases, it provides a higher land utilisation. Quality land is already at premium in high growth corridors and Namaka to Nadi Corridor is an example, it encourages better land utilisation. It also reduces the conversion of previously agricultural land for residential housing.

• Increase in Rental Income

TLTB will be able to increase its Head lease and individual rental to the owners. Current Head Lease rental is $320/year. We are anticipating and recommending that the Head Lease be increased to $3,200 per annum; which is 10 fold increase over the current lease payment. We also recommend that individual sub-lease holders not be charged any rent. This will simplify the collection of rent by TLTB.

• Future Opportunities

The strata/unit structure that has been presented to TLTB is a unique and futuristic way to manage land utilisation and maximum return to the iTaukei land owners. As the metro land gets in shorter supply, residential dwellings and land block will shrink leading to high density utilisation. We recommend that TLTB not only approve this strata planning but consider implementing/conditioning that higher value residential land be subject to strata based structure. Strata or Unit based development is a common for commercial units across the developed countries as has been the stratisation (strategization) for residential development.

Design Plans
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Please refer to detail Plans for 30 Units  provided 
Specific Features of the project included

• Gated, fully secure community
• Location ideal for international investors and travellers
• Fully serviced apartment. Please refer to the list of inclusions per apartment
• High standard finish (Australian Standard)
• Infrastructure includes
• Town water
• Sewer Connection
• Grid based electricity supply
• Own transformer
• Telecom connections
• Internet-wired and wireless connection
• Sell of a unit by unit basis thus creating liquidity within the property

Contractual Rights and Obligations

The agreement is governed by the Laws of the Republic of Fiji Islands and all parties submit to the exclusive jurisdiction to the courts of Fiji Islands. An aspect to any disputes arising out of the agreement of the contract of sale and purchase of property in Fiji is regulated by the Land Transfer Act. The Land sales Act regulates the sale and purchase of Land to non-residents. The terms of the contract of sale and purchase (copy attached) contains specific rights and obligations of owners and tenants.

All current and future owners will execute the contract and accept the terms of ownership.
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Specific “neighbourhood Rules” a (copy attached) will be part of the contract of sale and purchase and will be binding on all owners, land lords, tenants and visitors. These rules may be updated by the Strata Committee.
The Strata Committee will comprise a minimum of 25% of all owners (Equity owners) and have the overall jurisdiction on neighbourhood rules. This community will engage professional like real estate managers, gardeners, maintenance and security officers to maintain the upkeep of the property.

Future Prospects

Lotus Construction (Fiji) Ltd is engaging to team up with TLTB to champion and provide technical assistance and to build similar unit based accommodation in areas of high public demand on TLTB land.

We are currently negotiating with various developers/land owners to find suitable land for future similar developments.

The strata systems (Unit Based Ownership) as has been described and implemented in Westfield subdivision by Lotus, could become the benchmark framework for further high density development by other developers on TLTB land.
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This will not only provide better accommodation, comparatively reduce the cost of accommodation at the same time give TLTB significantly increase in rental earnings. Once the concept has been accepted and understood within the Fijian Real Estate industry it will allow the developments outside the metro area, giving substantial benefits to all parties; owners, government, community and TLTB included.

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*Coalition's Finance Minister Biman Prasad bought two units Off-Plan on 12 March 2014 but we don't know if he still owns the two units. He didn't declare the two units in his statutory declarations from 2014 to 2024. *Three days after buying the two units, Biman Chand and his first cousin Sunil Chand formed Lotus Construction (Fiji) Ltd on 15 March 2014. Prasad was gifted a five per cent share in the company, and a year later, in 2015, was gifted another 45 per cent share by Sunil Chand, and currently holds 50 per cent shares in Lotus (Fiji).