Status as on- 12/02/2021

According to Real estate experts, around thousands of projects throughout the country are either stuck or delayed.

Homebuyers were promised possession years ago but till date thousands of them are still waiting to get the possession. There is no progress on sites since years. There are more than 350 complaints filed against the project under Real Estate Regulatory Authority, Karnataka (RERA-K) and similarly in other states as well. Homebuyers are still having faith in the system to get justice.

Problems faced by Homebuyers

It is the usually the tendency of the developers to first promise the homebuyers to handover the possession on time in accordance with Builder Buyer Agreement (BBA) and then keep on delaying the possession process. Homebuyers invest in houses/apartments and later are fooled by the developers when it comes to take possession. They are asked to pay high amounts of security money, advance payments, partial payments on regular intervals and other heavy transactions. For that they have to knock the doors of The Banking institutions and later are left with the burden of EMIs and additional spending on rent in their existing temporary accommodation.

Covid-19 being a disaster for homebuyers

Real estate sector was already going through a tough phase for a long time and pandemic gave a double blow to the homebuyers. There are thousands of complaints pending in the Real Estate Regulatory Authorities of different states and UTs.  Covid-19 doubled the pendency of cases. Matters are regularly being adjourned in accordance with the guidelines by Hon’ble Supreme Court due to the Pandemic.

However, things are getting better gradually as the authorities have now started taking the matters on priority basis.

How effective is RERA?

Homebuyers seek relief for all these misconducts done by developers/builders and expect the authorities to bring peace in their lives by helping them in getting possession which is generally delayed by the developers or in getting refund with penalty & compensation. RERA is one such Authority which is being effective in such scenario. Its procedure is quite swift as compared to the other civil courts and this becomes the prime reason for the aggrieved homebuyers to go by this way against the developers/builders.

Although the verdicts by the RERA authority are swift but their execution is still a big question before the system. Homebuyers have to further approach the higher authorities for the execution. Therefore, even after investing so much, they still have to struggle a lot in getting the relief.

The system needs to enhance the powers of RERA to make this whole process easy and more effective for the innocent.

Conclusion

It’s high time now to set a system which resolves the issues faced by the innocent homebuyers without any delay and with proper execution. For that some immediate amendments are required to be made in the laws dealing with Real Estate Regulation.

Disclaimer – the above article is based on the personal interpretation of the related orders and laws. The readers are expected to take expert opinion before relying upon the article. For more information, please contact us at rera@centrik.in