Bengaluru real estate: KRERA orders real estate developer to pay ₹2.5 crore to buyer for failing to deliver apartment

“The developer is directed to refund a sum of ₹2.5 lakh towards refund with interest from April 2014 till November 2024. The developer is also directed to close the loan standing in the name of the complainant,” the order said.

In this case, the buyer, Anant Ramachandran, had booked an apartment at Mantri Webcity in north Bengaluru’s Hennur under the pre-EMI scheme and paid about ₹15 lakh with an additional home loan for about ₹65 lakh. Despite the possession date of 2017, KRERA noted that the developer had failed to handover the apartment even after five years.

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Pre-EMI scheme offered to the buyer

KRERA noted that the developer had offered pre-EMI schemes or pre-sanctioned loans to purchase the apartments.

The buyer informed KRERA that under the scheme, the developer was to pay off and fully settle the loan’s EMI until March 2017.

“The buyer paid a sum of ₹15 lakh to the developer in April 2014, and in the same year, in May, the bank disbursed the complete loan to the developer to the tune of ₹65 lakh. The buyer paid several pre-EMIs to the bank after the developer failed to pay the same on the buyer’s behalf,” the order said.

The buyer further told KRERA that as of January 2017, the developer had neither delivered the apartment nor continued loan payments, leading him to email a request to withdraw from the project.

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Developer says complaint is not maintainable

The developer told KRERA that the complaint is not maintainable.

“The developer pleaded the reason for the delay in completion of the project, such as legal and licensing issues, heavy and continuous rainfall, demonetization, COVID-19 lockdown…,” the order said.

HT.com has sent a list of queries to the real estate developer. The copy will be updated if a response is received.

KRERA findings

The Authority said that the developer had failed to reimburse all the pre-EMIs to the complainant as agreed under the document, which resulted in the buyer paying money to the financial institution.

“The complainant is neither the beneficiary of the property nor of the loan that is restrained by the developer,” the order said.

Regarding the delay in completion, KRERA stated that the reasons cited by the developer were merely routine compliance and construction-related matters that any project promoter is expected to manage.

“Further, the delivery and completion of the project is in March 2017, and the COVID pandemic started after the year 2020. The developer cannot plead the pandemic as a delay,” the order said.

The authority, therefore, directed the developer to refund the amount within two months of the order and to cancel the home loan taken in the buyer’s name.