RERA Rights and Complaint Support for Homebuyers

RERA Complaint Support for Homebuyers in Maharashtra

If your possession date has passed and the builder is offering explanations instead of keys, you have a statutory right — not a request to be negotiated. Section 18 of the Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act, 2016 gives you a clear choice: withdraw from the project and take your money back with interest, or stay and claim interest for every month of delay until possession.

N D Savla & Associates helps homebuyers understand where they stand and act on it. We verify the project registration record, compute what you are actually owed, prepare and file the complaint before the authority, and represent your position through the hearing. Because we are chartered accountants, the interest and refund computation that sits at the centre of most complaints is prepared to a standard the authority can rely on. Where the dispute becomes a wider litigation matter, we coordinate that as well.

This page sets out what rights RERA actually gives an allottee, what to check before you buy, how to file a complaint, and what to expect from the process. If your possession date has already passed, the section on Section 18 is where to start.

What Rights Does RERA Give a Homebuyer?

RERA converted a set of contractual expectations, previously enforceable only through years of civil litigation, into statutory rights adjudicated by a specialist authority within defined timelines. The most important is the right to timely possession, backed by a financial remedy that operates automatically on default.

Alongside it sit rights to accurate information — project registration details, sanctioned plans, timelines and the promoter track record must be published and kept current — and the right to buy by carpet area, which ended the practice of pricing on a super built-up figure the buyer could not verify.

The Act also limits what a promoter can take before an agreement is executed, restricts alterations to sanctioned plans without allottee consent, and makes the promoter responsible for structural defects reported within five years of possession.

What Can You Claim If the Project Is Delayed?

Section 18 gives the allottee the choice, and it is the allottee choice rather than the promoter.

Note: the interest rate is prescribed under the state rules and is generally linked to the State Bank of India highest marginal cost of lending rate plus a margin. Crucially, the same rate applies both ways — what the promoter pays you for delay is what you would have paid on a default in payment.

Who Can Approach the Authority?

The remedy is available more widely than many buyers assume.

Buyers Facing Possession Delay

This is the largest category of complaint by a wide margin. The reference point is the completion date declared at registration or in the agreement for sale, not any revised date the builder has communicated informally since. A verbal assurance that possession will now come in six months does not displace the registered date.

Buyers Who Discover the Project Is Unregistered

A project above the threshold that was marketed to you without registration is itself a contravention. Before booking, the registration status can be checked on the authority portal, and it is worth confirming that the project registration covers the specific phase or building you are buying into rather than an adjacent one.

Buyers Affected by Changes to the Project

Alterations to sanctioned plans, changes to common areas or amenities, or reduction in the carpet area delivered against what was agreed all give rise to a claim. The quarterly updates published by the promoter are the best evidence of what changed and when, and are frequently more useful to a buyer than anything the builder has said directly.

Allottee Associations and Groups of Buyers

Where several allottees in the same project face the same default, complaints can be pursued collectively, which shares cost and presents the authority with a consistent factual picture. Groups are usually more effective than individuals in projects where the issue is systemic rather than specific to one unit.

How Has Homebuyer Protection Evolved in India?

Before 2016, an Indian homebuyer facing delay had rights on paper and almost no practical means of enforcing them.

Before 1991: Flat Ownership Statutes and Civil Courts

Maharashtra had the Maharashtra Ownership Flats Act, 1963, which required disclosure and an agreement before a promoter could take more than a fifth of the price. Enforcement, however, meant a civil suit. A buyer facing a two-year delay could expect litigation lasting considerably longer than the delay itself, which in practice meant most buyers simply waited.

1991 to 2010: Expansion and Asymmetry

The construction boom that followed liberalisation was accompanied by standard-form agreements that were heavily one-sided — nominal compensation for builder delay against punitive interest for buyer default, broad permission to alter plans, and possession dates expressed as expectations. Buyers had no means of verifying land title or approvals independently. Consumer forums provided some relief but were not designed for the volume or the technical nature of construction disputes.

2016: RERA Establishes a Specialist Regulator

The Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act, 2016 created state regulatory authorities, mandated project registration and public disclosure, standardised carpet area, established the seventy percent designated account discipline, and created a fast-track adjudication mechanism. Section 18 gave allottees a direct financial remedy on delay. MahaRERA was established with effect from May 2017 and has since decided a very substantial volume of allottee complaints.

Where Things Stand Now

Complaints are filed online, project records including quarterly progress are publicly searchable, and the authority has developed a considerable body of orders on delay, refund computation and the treatment of lapsed projects. The Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code amendment recognising homebuyers as financial creditors gave allottees an additional route where a developer becomes insolvent. Buyers today have genuinely enforceable remedies, but they still have to be invoked — nothing happens automatically on default.

How Do You File a RERA Complaint?

We run buyer matters in eight steps. Straightforward delay complaints are typically decided within a few months of filing.

1. Document Review and Position Assessment — We examine the allotment letter, agreement for sale, payment receipts, bank statements and all correspondence with the builder to establish exactly what was promised, what was paid and what was delivered.
2. Verification of the Project Record — The registration status, declared completion date, any extension granted and the quarterly progress filings are checked on the authority portal. This frequently reveals that the position filed publicly differs from what the builder has been telling buyers.
3. Determining the Remedy to Pursue — Refund with interest or continued interest for delay are alternatives, not a sequence, and the choice depends on the project realistic prospects, your financial position and whether you still want the property. We set out both outcomes in figures before you decide.
4. Computation of the Claim — Amounts paid, dates of payment and the prescribed interest rate are used to compute the claim precisely. A well-supported computation is the single most persuasive element of a buyer complaint, and a vague or inflated one weakens an otherwise strong case.
5. Pre-Complaint Notice to the Promoter — A formal notice setting out the default and the relief sought is issued. Some builders settle at this stage, particularly where the project record is clearly against them, and it costs little to establish that you gave them the opportunity.
6. Filing the Complaint — The complaint is filed online with the authority in the prescribed form with the fee and supporting documents. Facts are stated precisely, since overstating a claim damages credibility on the points that actually matter.
7. Hearing and Representation — The matter is heard, generally over a small number of hearings, and we present the computation and documentary position and respond to the promoter defence.
8. Order, Execution and Follow-Through — On a favourable order we assist with execution where the promoter does not comply, including recovery proceedings and, where the developer is insolvent, positioning the claim in that process.

For buyers still at the decision stage rather than in dispute, the more valuable exercise is checking a project before committing — a form of due diligence covering registration status, title, approvals and the promoter filing record across their other projects.

Warning: do not sign a possession letter, addendum or settlement waiving your delay claim without advice. Builders routinely present these at handover as a formality, and signing typically extinguishes a claim for delay interest that may be worth a substantial sum.

What Should Different Buyers Watch For?

The rights are common to all allottees. What differs is where the risk sits.

Buyers in Under-Construction Projects

Track the declared completion date and the quarterly progress filings rather than relying on site visits or sales team updates. A project where filed progress has stalled across consecutive quarters is a warning worth acting on early, while options remain open, rather than after the completion date has passed.

Buyers in Delayed or Stalled Projects

The critical question is whether the project will realistically complete. Where it will, remaining and claiming delay interest usually produces a better outcome than a refund, since the asset itself has value. Where it will not, an early refund claim ranks better than a late one. Check whether the promoter has obtained an extension, because a granted extension changes the date from which delay is computed.

Buyers of Ready or Resale Property

For a completed property the RERA remedies for delay do not arise, but structural defect liability continues for five years from possession and can be pursued against the promoter. Resale purchasers should confirm the original allotment documentation and whether any RERA proceedings are pending in respect of the unit before completing.

Buyers Dealing Through Brokers and Agents

Real estate agents must themselves be registered, and buyers should verify the agent registration number before paying anything through them. Misrepresentation by an agent is actionable, and the RERA for agents page sets out what a registered agent is required to do.

Why Choose N D Savla & Associates for Your RERA Complaint?

These are the five reasons buyers come to us.

• The computation is prepared by chartered accountants. Interest and refund calculations are the heart of a delay complaint, and a precise, well-supported figure carries far more weight before the authority than an estimate.
• We check the public record before advising. The registration status, extensions granted and quarterly filings frequently contradict what a builder has told buyers, and that contradiction is often the strongest part of a case.
• Honest advice on which remedy to pursue. Refund and continued interest lead to very different outcomes, and we set out both in figures rather than defaulting to whichever produces a larger headline number.
• Realistic expectations from the start. We tell you what the process will take and what recovery realistically looks like, including where a developer financial position means an order may be difficult to execute.
• Support through execution. An order is not money in your account, and we stay with the matter through execution and, where necessary, insolvency proceedings.

Complaints are filed with and decided by the Maharashtra Real Estate Regulatory Authority, and we work from the orders, circulars and project records published at maharera.maharashtra.gov.in, so the position advanced reflects how the authority has actually been deciding comparable matters.

Frequently Asked Questions for Homebuyers