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Having a house of one’s own is the biggest dream of every person. For this, people put their entire life savings at stake. But when the builder does not hand over the possession of the house on time even after making huge payments, the buyer is completely devastated. In one such case, Punjab Real Estate Regulatory Authority (P-RERA) has given a very precedential decision in favor of home buyers.
The authority has made it clear that the rights of the common people investing in real estate projects are completely safe and cannot be compromised under any circumstances. RERA has issued a strict order to pay interest of about Rs 25 lakh to the allottee for the delay in handing over the flat to a builder in New Chandigarh.
What is the whole matter?
Neelam Arora, a resident of PEC complex located in Sector-12, Chandigarh, informed about the ongoing work in New Chandigarh. ‘The Lake’ Had booked a flat for myself in a residential project named. The total price of this flat was more than Rs 74.75 lakh.
Complainant’s lawyer M. Shahnawaz Khan, appearing before RERA, said that the buyer had honestly deposited about 95 percent of the total amount to the builder within the first 90 days of flat booking under the ‘Lump-sum Payment Plan’. Even after receiving such a huge amount, the builder’s attitude remained very lax. He did not even sign the Buyer’s Agreement for a long time. Finally, the agreement was prepared on 26 December 2022, in which the last date for handing over the possession of the flat was fixed as 31 July 2023. When this time limit also passed and the flat was not available, the buyer, upset, knocked on the door of RERA.
The Lake Project controversy: Complete details at a glance
You can easily understand this entire matter and the order of RERA from the table given below:
RERA rejected builder’s excuses of Corona and government approvals
During the hearing, the builder resorted to the well-worn excuses often given in courts to protect himself. The builder’s lawyers argued that work had come to a halt due to the COVID-19 pandemic, there were delays in getting approvals from various government departments and several administrative hurdles came up, due to which the project could not be completed on time.
However, the bench of RERA member Arunveer Vashishtha rejected all these arguments of the builder outright. In its order, the bench said in a very strict tone that no buyer can be forced to wait indefinitely for getting a flat after investing his hard-earned money.
Citing Supreme Court rules
Referring to the principles laid down by the Supreme Court in its decision, the authority held that in such projects, a period of 3 years after booking can be considered sufficient and appropriate for handing over the house. Since the allotment letter in this case was issued in December 2018 itself, hence technically the possession of the flat should have been given by maximum 14th December 2021.
If money is not paid then recovery will be done like land revenue
The RERA bench has also made it clear in its order that if the builder does not pay this amount of interest to the buyer within the stipulated time, then this money will be recovered. Land Revenue Arrears Will be done strictly like this. That means the administration will get the buyer’s money back even after confiscating the builder’s property. After this historic decision, based on the final calculations, it is now certain that the victim’s family will get interest of around Rs 25 lakh. This stand of RERA is a strong warning to all those builders of Punjab and Chandigarh who keep the project hanging for years after taking the money.
