RERA advances date of possession by 3 yrs
In a huge relief to an allottee of a commercial unit, the Real Estate Regulation Authority (RERA) directed the developer to prepone the date of possession of the unit by three years from 2022 to 2019.
The RERA bench acted on a complaint filed by an allottee for delayed possession even after 90 percent of the work had already been completed.
The complainant Sarvapriya Leasing Private Limited, an allottee had entered into a development agreement with the developer Srushti Sangam Developers Private Limited. They entered into an agreement to redevelop ‘Maulick Enclaves’ at Chembur Mumbai. The complainant had paid a total amount of approximately Rs 4 crores to the developer and executed eight separate registered agreements in 2007 in order to purchase six shops and two offices.
During the hearing, Sanjay Chaturvedi, the advocate who represented the complainant said the project has remained incomplete since then and the allottee was unable to get the possession of the commercial units. The allottee prayed in his complaint for directions to developer for early completion of project along with issuance of Occupancy Certificate (OC)
“The developer had mentioned the project completion date as September 2022. This means that even after 11 years of the start of project, he requires another four years for its completion,” said Chaturvedi.
The developer who was represented by Advocate Rajani Divkar said the complainant is an investor and not a buyer in the said project. “It is a redevelopment project which was delayed due to heritage notification issued by the state government and litigation between land owner and the collector,” stated Divkar.
The RERA bench observed that the complainant is a buyer of the commercial units. “The entire reading of the agreement leaves no doubt regarding his status as a buyer
The complainant had entered into a development agreement with Srushti Sangam Developers Private Limited to redevelop ‘Maulick Enclaves’ at Chembur. The complainant had paid a total amount of approximately Rs 4 crores to the developer and executed eight separate registered agreements in 2007 in order to purchase six shops and two offices
who had aquired ownership of the shops and offices by virtue of executing the agreements,” stated the order.
Another document submitted by the developer is a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), between the concerned parties signed in 2007, in which the word investor has been used for the complainant. However, the document also confirms that the complainant hod paid for the ownership of the commercial units.
“It is evident that the complainant has purchased the commercial units by making payment to the developer. Hence, he is covered in the definition of allottee under Section 2(d) of RERA Act, 20I 6,” stated the order.
The bench also directed the technical Consultant of MahaRERA to visit the site and submit a report about the present status of the project under reference and the time required for its completion. The report submitted by consultant stated that 90 percent works of the project was already completed. The balance work required a period of one year to get completed. “According to Rule 4 of Maharashtra Real Estate {Regulation and Development) (Registration of Real Estate Projects, Registration of Real Estate Agents, Rate of lnterest and Disclosures on Website) Rules of 2017, the time required to complete an ongoing project, shall be commensurate with the extend of development already completed,' stated the order.
Thereby, the authority directed the developer to advance the date of completion of project from September 2022 to November 2019 anf make changes in the webpage of registration with MahaRERA.