You own the land. You don't have to sell it to develop it.
A joint venture lets a landowner convert land into built units without putting up construction capital. The whole thing hinges on whether the agreement is fair and specific — so ours is written before anything is filed.
Most Chennai landowners we meet are sitting on family land they do not want to sell but cannot afford to develop. A joint venture solves that: you contribute the land, we fund and deliver construction, and the built area is shared in an agreed ratio.
Arunkumar Athimulam leads joint-venture partnerships at Arun Builders. It is a structure the firm has used for years, and the reason it works is that the difficult conversations happen at the start rather than at handover.
Scope of work
Landowner JV structures
You retain ownership and receive a defined share of the built units. No construction capital required from you.
Sharing ratio & unit allocation
Not just a percentage — which specific units are yours, identified before approvals are filed.
Approvals handled end to end
CMDA/DTCP sanction, plan approval and completion formalities managed as part of the venture.
Clear exit terms
What happens on delay, dispute or change of plan — written down at the start, when everyone is still reasonable.
What a fair JV agreement contains
Specific units, not just a ratio
"You get 35%" means nothing until it says which floors and which facing. Vague allocation is the single most common source of JV disputes.
Clean title before commitment
We verify title, patta and encumbrance before signing. Where a partition is unregistered, that gets completed first — even if it delays the project.
A programme with consequences
Completion timelines with defined outcomes if they are missed, rather than an open-ended commitment.
Specification schedule attached
The finish specification for your units, annexed to the agreement — so "premium finish" has a definition.
Frequently asked
What sharing ratio is normal in Chennai?
It varies with land value and location — a common range for Chennai residential JVs is 60:40 to 70:30 in the developer's favour on built area, though prime locations shift toward the landowner. The ratio should reflect land value against construction cost, and any builder should be able to show you that arithmetic.
Do I need to invest any money?
In a standard JV, no. The landowner contributes land, the builder funds construction. Statutory costs and how they are split should be stated explicitly in the agreement.
What if the title isn't clear?
Then it gets resolved before construction, not during. We have paused projects for months while families completed registration. It is inconvenient and it protects everyone at handover.
How long does a JV project take?
A small apartment block typically runs 20–26 months from agreement to handover, including approvals. Approvals alone commonly take 4–7 months in Chennai.
Talk to us about your project.
Site visit and written quotation anywhere in Chennai. We will tell you honestly if the budget does not match the brief.