RERA a paper tiger in tricity

With the recent exponential growth of the city and the apartmentalisation in the tricity especially following the Supreme Court judgment attempting to preserve Corbusier’s Chandigarh, the larger question that begets crying attention is the failure of the state-run regulatory authorities in Punjab and Haryana to discharge their statutory duties.

With the recent exponential growth of the city and the apartmentalisation in the tricity especially following the Supreme Court judgment attempting to preserve Corbusier’s Chandigarh, the larger question that begets crying attention is the failure of the state-run regulatory authorities in Punjab and Haryana to discharge their statutory duties. The allottee bears the brunt right from the presale stages: Camouflaged marketing strategies till the time of the allotment and the possession. The story starts this way: There is unregulated leash of WhatsApp advertising by an army of sales teams and channel partners to lure naive potential customers. Their incentive being handsome commissions. Allottees are given projected misleading illusory measurements with an obscure caveat that the same are projected estimates of architectural designs.

Buildings and roads are seen from the window of an airplane over New Delhi. Reuters/Fayaz Kabli (Reuters File)

The real catch is the carpet area. Customers are hoodwinked to sign blank application forms without the exact carpet area, and neither is the rate per square foot specified at all.

Subsequently, sale agreements are not shown at all to the purchasers who are simply told to land up for the sales registration process tightly controlled by building companies. Informed consent is negated. Different measurements are parachuted unilaterally yet again in the agreements and sprung up only as an accidental surprise to inquisitive allottees whilst most of the allottees continue to bask in complete bliss and oblivion till the time a class action bubble bursts at the end of the day five years down the line. It is too late by then. Ample reported case law demonstrates that the poor allottees have no choice but to shell out the huge extortionate extra charges especially in construction-linked plans whereby allottees have already paid upfront three quarters of the committed amount.

Imagine the plight of people who have taken home loans. Different prices and different measurements are given to different customers, a trademark of the might and right of the builders. As the adage goes: The higher the building, the lower the morals. Even after paying 95% of the consideration money, leading real estate companies in New Chandigarh will not embark on the sales registration process till the time all sorts of charges outside the scope of RERA 2016 are paid in advance for years together. Contrary to RERA legislation, builders force people to purchase club memberships despite running full-fledged sales offices from such club premises.

There are many reported instances where multiple plot holders in New Chandigarh have been intimidated to purchase multiple club memberships though being part of the same township. Building companies throttle extortionate arbitrary resident welfare association charges in advance even for vacant plots at the time of the sale for several years from allottees, failing which their sale deeds are not registered at all. As per GMADA policy, RWA charges cannot be levied on allottees in the absence of completion certificates.

Ever expanding existing projects in New Chandigarh without any demarcations of the existing projects continue on a massive land acquisition spree sans any completion certificate: Guava orchard culture flourishes with relish pleasure and blessings of GMADA. Coming to the post sales story: Ultra high-end projects in New Chandigarh and Panchkula district do not even have any grievance redressal officers in complete disregard of RERA legislation. It is for this reason residents of a high-end project had to take to the streets. It is a matter of regret that none of the regulatory authorities have any measurement details of upcoming high-end apartments. Allottees become litigants not by choice but by the agony and high-handedness of builders. And the strategy deployed by them is to tire out people who litigate.

All grievances must be documented for the purpose of record. Buyers must ask for specified quantified carpet areas as defined in RERA 2016. Finally, a humble prayer to the governor of Punjab to set up a proactive portal to redress grievances of allottees at the hands of mega private builders.

The author is a Chandigarh-based lawyer and a Felix scholar.