Homebuyer wins full refund with Rs 1.57 crore interest in MahaREAT as Builder delays possession by 3 years, citing MHADA-MCGM dispute

Our Partner, Heena Chheda shares his insight in ET Wealth, “Homebuyer wins full refund with Rs 1.57 crore interest in MahaREAT as Builder delays possession by 3 years, citing MHADA-MCGM dispute.”

She highlights that the Maharashtra Real Estate Appellate Tribunal’s rulings in this case send a clear, buyer-friendly signal under the Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act, 2016 (RERA). In this case the MahaREAT Tribunal held that the builder could not blame a dispute between MHADA and the BMC, or delays in getting an Occupation Certificate, to justify its failure to hand over possession of the flat on time. The MahaREAT Tribunal applied Section 18 of RERA, and ruled that once the agreed possession date is crossed, the buyer gains a statutory right to interest for the period of delay. Day-to-day approval and coordination problems between government bodies are part of the developer’s own business and project-management risk and cannot be used to avoid paying interest for delayed posession. This judgement confirms that bureaucratic or ‘systemic’ issues including disputes between public authorities do not legally excuse delay in handing over flats, and that, once delay is established, the buyer’s entitlement to interest under Section 18 is statutory and effectively unconditional.

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