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How to use RERA website before buying flat House property, How to get maximum out of RERA website

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?

How to use TNRERA website
Before Buying an apartment, it is very important to check the builder’s credibility through your network, their previous completed project’s quality, schedule efficiency (Handing over date with Committed date) which are crucial in Property buying. After paying our initial amount to the developer/builder, our signature in single sided agreement may be taken as granted by the developer for their business convenience, resulted in huge legal cases in all level of courts, created impact on judicial system and hence Government has made RERA for each state.

Why to Check with RERA ?
-To check the genuineness of the project & builder
-To check builders schedule efficiency & progress status as committed
-To check builder has any violations
-To check complete history of your building approval records, status and tentative target date

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

  1. RERA approval , Project Registration number for respective project, promoter
  2. Comparing the progress of your site visit with last status report in RERA to find absolute progress
  3. Whether your builder has restriction to sell any of property in that project
  4. Any cases filed against your builder/promoter
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First of all, if you have decided to buy a home for investment purpose, I did extensive analysis & posted a video, Why to buy a Home?,  in order to give holistic approach to who wants to either invest or to buy for dual purpose (investment &  own a home). You can use the FREE excel sheet to check which one will work for you

If you don't want to analyze, skip and continue reading
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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.

Check the Project status at RERA site

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

search your builder

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.

4 points to check in RERA approval


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

Public caution notice by RERA to avoid buying from builders

Public caution by RERA to not to buy



Public caution by RERA to not to buy

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

Project Pending, Withheld in RERA

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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Read also 

What to check in construction agreement before buying your home? How the Builder Buyer agreement should be as per RERA?

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