Category: HI & RERA

In the case of delayed possession of a house in Navi Mumbai, the MahaRERA Appellate Tribunal (Mumbai) upheld the MahaRERA order of payment of interest on the amount paid by the aggrieved homebuyer.

The order states,the builder is now required to pay a marginal cost of lending rate (MCLR) and two per cent interest under section 18 of the Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act. The disputed property – on the 17th floor of Marathon NexE one of Sanvo Resorts Pvt Ltd– was bought by Neha Bagwe for Rs 38.77 lakh, excluding taxes and other charges, in 2012.

The agreement was signed in 2014 after the developer accepted Rs 10 lakh. The developer had promised possession in 2016, and Bagwe paid the entire amount by then. However, she and her family got possession only in January this year. Bagwe said she moved MahaRERA in 2018, seeking interest from the builder on the flat cost.

In 2019, the MahaRERA passed an order in her favour. However, the developer appealed in the Appellate Tribunal seeking that Bagwe’s plea be dismissed on grounds that the delay was caused due to factors beyond his control. Bagwe said the delay was stressful for the family as she had a home loan monthly instalment of Rs 20,000.

She said she had also taken an education loan for her daughter. The builder had contended in the Tribunal that the project land was declared as notified area in January 2013 by the state government.

Source: https://www.freepressjournal.in/mumbai/navi-mumbai-over-delay-homebuyer-gets-interest-on-total-cost

The Conciliation Forum formed under the Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act, 2016 (RERA) and Maharashtra Real Estate Regulatory Authority (MahaRERA) to facilitate disputes between homebuyers and developers amicably to save cost and time of litigation has been proving beneficial as around 351 cases have been settled in Pune so far.

As a part of the regulatory body, the Conciliation Forum was formed in March 2018 to enable the disputed parties to connect and also appear before the expert conciliators to resolve their problems, clear doubts and mitigate misunderstandings.

The forum consists of representatives from CREDAI-Pune Metro, Mumbai Grahak Panchayat, a leading consumer body and other promoters’ associations.

Since its inception in 2018, the forum claimed that it has studied many matters of disputes and successfully resolved cases of aggrieved allottees or the promoters, who have opted for the conciliation mechanism, set up under MahaRERA.

The senior conciliators of the forum from CREDAI-Pune Metro include Hemant Naiknavare, former president, Amar Manjrekar, vice-president, Aditya Javdekar, vice-president, Arvind Jain, secretary, I P Inamdar, treasurer, Kishore Pate, former vice-president and Hemendra Shah, former managing committee member.

As per the forum’s process, any aggrieved party, customer or developer, can make a complaint online from the MahaRERA website after which a conciliation request is sent automatically to the other party involved. Once the other party accepts the request within seven days, the aggrieved party has to pay a requisite fee to MahaRERA, after which the case is referred to the appropriate conciliation bench, where the disputed parties seek to reach an amicable settlement with the assistance of the conciliator, who acts as a neutral third party, a member said.

“Conciliation Forum is a platform where the disputed parties get an opportunity to connect and also before the expert conciliators resolve disputes amicably. The parties get a chance to express their sides freely in front of the conciliation bench with a face to face interaction. A conciliator bench proposes the best possible process to deal with the dispute by making recommendations in the form of advice and suggestion and once the dispute is resolved, the conciliator issues a ‘settlement agreement’ which records the outcome of the dispute,” said CREDAI-Pune Metro President, Anil Pharande.

In certain cases which may include stalled, litigated or mortgaged projects, where the interest of a large number of allottees is affected, the forum, by putting extra time and efforts, has invited all the concerning parties such as financial institutes, land owners or any third party to attend the proceedings to resolve the issue amicably, he said.

In 2020, the forum took up the most complicated case of a stalled project in Pune wherein a huge relief was provided to 520 allottees after the settlement.

Similarly, the forum has taken up cases, including disagreements due to delay in possession or a claim where one flat was sold to multiple buyers, resulting in court litigation. The conciliators have handled the cases of defence and police department personnel as well, Pharande said.

Source: https://indianexpress.com/article/cities/pune/mahareras-conciliation-forum-settles-351-disputes-between-homebuyers-developers-7717446/

While the number of pending cases before MahaRERA is piling up with every passing day with more than 5,404 cases, the delay in getting hearing dates has not only irked the litigants but also the professionals practising at MahaRERA, as their demand to fill vacancies and increase the benches in MahaRERA has fallen into deaf ears. Legal brains say, if this continues, the purpose of setting up RERA to provide speedy disposal of complaints within 60 days of filing complaints is defeated.

Moreover, even with such a huge voluminous pendency of cases before MahaRERA, only two benches are functional as on date, increasing the workload on the system.

mid-day had, in its article titled ‘Wait for MahaRERA hearing dates keep getting longer’ on December 29, highlighted the concern of thousands of litigants about their plight regarding the long wait.

Speaking to mid-day, CA Ramesh Prabhu, founder chairman of Maharashtra Societies Welfare Association (MahaSEWA), said, “Considering the pending complaints, the first date of the hearing is received after nine months to one year. In the first hearing, the parties are asked if they want to explore amicable settlement through a conciliation forum. If parties do not opt for regular hearings, the date for hearing comes after six to nine months. The subsequent dates are also given after nine months. Thus, the very purpose of setting up RERA to provide speedy disposal of complaints within 60 days is defeated.”

Prabhu added, “Complaints against registered projects filed till date (since formation of MahaRERA in mid-2017) is 15,593, and 10,189 orders have been passed so far. Pending complaints stand at 5,404. Complaints filed against unregistered projects are 839 of which 784 are disposed of, thus the number of pending complaints against unregistered projects is 55. Pendency is increasing with each day. However, with the vast leap in hearings from six months to nine months, instead of the mandated 60 days as per RERA act, pending complaints may go up to 10,000 in the next six months, which is worrisome. The need of the hour is to immediately appoint three additional benches and additional manpower for clearing these cases.”

Advocate Godfrey Pimenta, who practises at MahaRERA, said, “Litigants who filed cases about a year ago are now being given dates from May to August 2022 in some of the cases handled by me, which may be the situation with other advocates as well. As such, additional members are required to be filled in to expedite the mechanism for complaint disposal ideally within 2 months from date of filing the complaint. Moreover, MahaRERA charges a fee of R5,000 per case towards filing charges, whereas other states charge a mere Rs 1,000.”

“The RERA authority was among the early few quasi judicial authorities to adapt to online hearings post the onset of the pandemic. However, the pandemic and other factors have resulted in increased defaults in the real estate industry, leading to breaches of agreements and non-delivery of the terms of sale deeds. There would, therefore, be an enhanced load on RERA. Thus, there would be an urgent need to increase the number of benches to cope with the increased load of matters” said Floyd Gracias, Supreme Court counsel.

Anil D’Souza, secretary, MahaRERA Bar Association, said, “Like all new ventures, MahaRERA is growing and will continue to grow. Hence, it needs more benches for adjudication. Since every second day, we see a MahaRERA order in the newsprint, more and more cases are now getting registered under the authority. At the same time, there is a huge stream of existing ongoing cases at various stages in the litigation process.”

“With the growing number of new cases and also the ongoing pending matters, it is imperative that there are more benches for adjudication that can reach out and address the hopefuls. Hence, a concerted effort to holistically address every stage, from court hearings to the final execution of the MahaRERA order is the need of the hour,” said D’Souza.

According to Prabhu, there are a few ways to move forward. First, MahaRERA and the state government have to increase the number of members/ benches in MahaRERA who can handle the complaints and assist in clearance of pendency. Second, the Supreme Court, in Newtech Promoters and Developers vs UP state and others, upheld the powers of RERA under section 81 of RERA to delegate its powers of complaints redressal to its members or any other person. Thus, RERA may appoint additional retired civil court judges or retired IAS officers to hear the complaints. Third, timely disposal of complaints is most important as the allottees have invested their life savings and are also paying EMI on housing loans. Any delay in deciding the complaints indirectly put the allottees to greater disadvantages etc.

Advocate Vinod Sampat, founder-president of Cooperative Societies Residents Users and Welfare Association, said, “The law stipulates that as far as possible RERA should pronounce the verdict within 90 days. This implies that a hearing should take place, all the parties should be heard and the matter must be normally disposed of within 90 days.”

He added, “As anticipated by many professionals practising in RERA, it is an open secret that dates are given after more than 90 days. The reason for the same is more work pressure and less helping hands due to staff crunch. COVID-19 lockdown also contributed to increased pendency of cases. During the first hearing, officials request the parties to go for conciliation of the matter and get the matter amicably resolved. I fail to understand why one should wait for a long time to give a date. Right now, a circular should be issued that all new matters should first go for conciliation and an attempt should be made by eminent and selfless bodies like Consumer Protection Division to get the matter resolved amicably. Presuming one is not successful with that, the matter would go on.”

He added, “If one looks at the number of cases being filed and the number of the officers attending the matters, we can clearly see that RERA benches are insufficient to cope up with the said work load. This will result in pendency of matters for years together. This requires it to be resolved in the most efficient manner.”

When asked what could be the solution, he said, “The solution is framing broad guidelines and issuing circulars. If the parties are well aware that this is the intention of RERA and if it is spelt out through circulars then people would be reluctant to delay the matter. We all know that builders use all possible tricks to delay the matter as the financial resources of the flat purchasers are limited. Moreover, the builder has got nothing to lose. These days, the nine per cent interest that may be awarded by RERA is peanuts. The need of the day is that RERA criminally prosecute defaulting builders. Unfortunately, the builders’ lobby is not taking RERA orders seriously. We all know that even the order once passed is difficult to implement due to bureaucratic constraints.”

Source: https://www.mid-day.com/mumbai/mumbai-news/article/pendency-with-maharera-will-go-up-if-additional-benches-not-appointed-23207216