Background of this article
I am a Home buyer. I earned money in bits & peace's. I paid my initial amount after disposing my family jewelleries like most middle class and there after took Home loan. I bought a flat at Chennai in 2012 and for various reasons, builder delayed the handing over and finally it was handed over by 2018 without completing many amenities. I googled many, went deep into the details and I would like to pass on my experience to common people who are suffering like me.
Whether CREDAI/CMDA are to be checked?
Earlier, there was no RERA to take care of buyer and the CREDAI which was an volunteer association of all builders, were facilitating & protecting the buyers rights. However, as violation were keep on raising, government has decided & insisted for autonomous body which is RERA, Hence CREDAI has no importance now
Also CMDA is a planning and approval authority of Metro & building plan, stage inspection (wherever required if any), issuing completion certificate. It is only an authority which don’t control the timelines, entire quality deviation (they just focus on macro level with respect to approval plan)
In my opinion, only CMDA approval of building design is required and further ,they may not focus consumer perspective.
Who else Control the Quality – ONLY YOU and your apprehensions if any can be taken up with RERA
Why RERA?
Before Buying a flat, what to check in RERA website
(Note- I took TNRERA as example and TNRERA is governing
Tamilnadu & Andaman and almost all state’s RERA websites will be similar to
this system and take the key input in this blog to get maximum out of RERA
website)
4 Points to Check RERA are
- RERA approval , Project Registration number for respective project, promoter
- Comparing the progress of your site visit with last status report in RERA to find absolute progress
- Whether your builder has restriction to sell any of property in that project
- Any cases filed against your builder/promoter
How to check whether your apartment project is registered & approved by RERA
Visit your state RERA website and click for registered
website to look for the project name, you are interested to buy. Your builder
would have given the registration details in marketing material in which they
would have indicated approval number or year. Search for respective property in
appropriate year.
Use Search option & excel file as highlighted in below
image if you are confused, to narrow down the result to what you are looking
for
Even though they indicated approval number, check once again and ensure the approval number, project name, area is matching with RERA website. If you are going for ready to occupy building, ensure the status as “Completed”. Otherwise, you will see another column after approval details as “Project status as on Month”. Take current status of the apartment from RERA, visit to site to calibrate and validate
Note - Builders will get completion certificate well before
100% completion of the project and live-able condition; hence completion
certificate doesn’t mean that everything is SET alright. Check Water, Power, STP,
Multidepartment store, Gym..etc as it is essential amenities to live and in
RERA website, builder may indicate the amenities are completed but actually it may
be pending.
Public Caution Notice by RERA- You should not buy builder’s own
property declared not for sale/ lease to RERA to avoid legal issues in future
and also find any penalty issued to your builder/project to check his
credibility
If your apartment project is Returned or With Held with RERA?
If you don’t find approval or if you find contradictory
information, collect further data whether it is appearing in other respective
pages like Rejected, Withheld, Returned or public caution notice served from
RERA and you can intimate to the builder that the details are not matching
along with the back up to stop bullying
How to find whether your builder is facing any legal issues with RERA?
Click complaints and check with Before the Authority(Final phase if any party doesn't agree with judgement given by Adjudicating officer) & with Before the Adjudicating officer (First phase), year wise. You can also use search bar with exact phrase like your builder/promoter name, location of site..etc
If you find any complaints with respect to common problem, discuss with builder/promoter on table and understand ground reality and take a legal opinion whether it affects you
Whether RERA is the only gateway to approach default
builder?
RERA is a comprehensive solution of your disputes with developer/builder and all cases will be completed in fast track & in minimum timeline, no unnecessary adjournments, no need to wait for 5 years or 10 years. As per judgements displayed in TNRERA website, average time line for a dispute resolution in RERA is 6-12 months and hence the Deceased Home buyer get speedy resolution from RERA
All builder buyer related cases should be dealt by RERA
only. It is advised by the Government authorities as per the section 79 of RERA
act that No civil court can handle the builder buyer related cases &
disputes, in case if it is mid-way, a request may be submitted to proceeding
court thru your lawyer to withdraw and file in front of RERA. However, as
per supreme court, concurrent remedies available as per consumer protection act
2019 provides as additional coverage thru National Consumer Disputes Redressal
Commission (NCRDRC) over & above RERA
What is the time frame to sue your builder as per RERA? Whether the
complaint against builder is before RERA or after RERA?
Any deficiency with respect to quality of construction,
service, amenities indicated in the agreement can be sued up to 5 years as per
section 14(3) of RERA act.
Also whether they registered under RERA or not, whether the
period is before RERA or after RERA act, they are liable for adherence of law
& punishable under this act.
Read a detailed judgement in TNRERA website- Judgements of appellate Tribunal, Appeal no 75, sl no 44
How to check whether you have solutions for your builder & buyer problem in RERA judgements?
There is no way other than to read each case summary & judgement in respective states RERA website and if you find some reference other states RERA judgments, that can be quoted anywhere in India as reference
Example - Common issues in Builder & Buyer agreement is Amenities. While entering a contract, builder will promise Lucrative Amenities in marketing broacher and later while handing over, many promised amenities will be missing for builder's cost cutting due to his delay or whatsoever may the reason. RERA strongly insists to fulfil all Broacher promised amenities as builder has promised a dream to his buyer while making an agreement.
Read detail Judgment in TNRERA website, sl no 45, Appeal no 44, The plea of the promoter that “Brochure mentioned amenities are not Guarantee” is not sustainable.
In case, if you need to verify your structural certificate, building stability, civil related issues, search your state's registered & certified professionals. Tamilnadu Government has provided such professionals details online through CMDA (Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority) with their registration details along with contact details to enable the consumers delight & empowerment. It may be same for other state.
Based on your conclusion, find a lawyer, probably well known in & around RERA office and process for filing a case. You can catch lawyers name from the judgments while reading it , the more you come across a lawyer name, the more he will have exposure about RERA.
If you decided to sue your builder, you are the sole responsible citizen with morale & have moral responsibility to bring the default builder into lime light and get compensation & justice. Reduce your expectations to join with anyone as you may have to persuade them. However, if you have joint decision with like minded buyers, it is always better to go in unity or thru association( Refer your bylaw for filing a case) as your builder will target you individually.
Remember that, more the builder targets you, the more he is exposed to his foul claims & failures, hence never mind but keep accumulating builder's every false claim, threats if he gives you like stopping water, not attending your maintenance issues, claim compensation for defaming his brand value..etc. and collect video, photo evidences. Your lawyer will give you expert advice to use them in your case if file.
How to file case in RERA- There are plenty of article available, here is the link for an article at 99acres.com
Hope this article helps you, in case of any requirements, please comment and I will try to give best references & experiences I came across
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