Home buyers have written a letter to the central government accusing the builders of arbitrariness. They say that if the financial condition of the builders worsens, they have the right to go to platforms like NCLT but the buyer has no means to save his money. If due to any problem, the home buyers have to cancel the flat, then they should not have to bear financial loss.
Abhay Upadhyay, a member of RERA’s Central Advisory Council, has demanded the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs to make a mandatory exit clause in the builder-buyer agreement to protect home buyers from the arbitrariness of builders. Upadhyay is also the president of Forum for People’s Collective Effort (FPCA), the largest organization of home buyers.
He has asked the ministry to instruct RERA officials to include this provision in the builder-buyer agreement. Amidst discussions of reforms in the Real Estate Regulatory Act i.e. RERA, Upadhyay has written a letter to the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs and raised the issue of the problems of those people who are forced to give up their dream of buying a house midway due to their poor financial condition.
According to Upadhyay, it is surprising that there is no provision for consumers to exit the contract in the builder-buyer agreement. Due to this, they are becoming victims of the builders’ arbitrariness. He also gave an example of a case in which the buyer had to lose 75 percent of the deposit amount on cancelling the flat.
In a letter to the central government, Upadhyay has said that if the financial condition of the builders deteriorates, they have the right to go to platforms like NCLT, but the buyer has no means to save his money. He should be given the facility that if he has to cancel the flat due to loss of job or any other problem, he should not have to bear any financial loss.
RERA states that if the developer is unable to give possession of the flat due to his fault, then he should return the money to the consumer along with compensation, but there can also be a situation where the consumer has to cancel his flat. It is against natural justice that if a person books a flat, then he has to pay installments under all circumstances.
FPCA has suggested that if the flat is cancelled by the allottee within three months, then the entire money should be refunded within 15 days. If this is done after three months, then the developer should make the payment within one month after deducting the bank interest rate on the deposited money.