Five families on the street after bank seizes building over unpaid dues by owner

BENGALURU: The owner of a four-storeyed building on Andrahalli Main Road, Venkatesh, had taken a huge loan from a private bank. However, he failed to repay the loan, resulting in the bank seizing the building. The building owner has not yet informed the leaseholders about the loan he took on the house and has absconded without paying the lease deposit to the families.

Five families, who had been living in the building on rent for the past five years are now on the street. The bank officials sealed the building, leaving the families with no access to their belongings.

The families are now struggling to find alternative accommodation and are left with no choice. The situation has become unbearable for them. The bank officials did not allow the families to take their belongings, including clothes, household items, and other essential items and the families are now left with nothing.

The families are now seeking help from the government and local authorities to find alternative accommodation and to retrieve their belongings from the sealed building.

Madhavi, a family member in the seized building, said, “We have been on lease for the last five years. The bank had given notice seven months ago, but they did not give prior notice before evicting us. The bank staff came when we were away at work and seized everything. I don’t have any information about seized things, including gold ornaments. When we approached the police, they said it was a civil case and they wouldn’t interfere in it. We have paid Rs 5 lakh as lease amout for a three-year period”.

Another tenant, Thayamma, said, “I have seen the owner once in a while. We have paid Rs 4 lakh for the lease. Now the owner is absconding and is not responding to phone calls. The owner was saying there is no relation between the loan and this building”.