It seems like open season on the builders for their various deficiencies and problems that they have given to customers. There was a time when the relation between property companies and consumers was great – you booked a flat or a villa, the company gave you the delivery of the flat within some time period of the promised time and the end value of the property had gone up in that time period. However, after the 2008 economic problem, it became more tricky. Builders started facing problems in terms of finding working capitals and loans, the property market was down, and there were also problems with regard to the land acquisition done by government agencies being reversed by the courts (a few of these acquisitions were reversed because of different reasons).
At the same time, with delayed deliveries of these properties to the end consumers, they face a lot of problems. The loans for these properties still had interest payments to be done and rent for the properties in which they were staying continued to happen. In addition, taxation also became a problem since the housing loan tax benefits have a validity in terms of number of years and when these deliveries get delayed, the taxation benefits cease to apply. But after some time, the property buyer no longer worries about these matters, in fact being more worried about the status of their property since they have already paid most of the money to the realty company. In the case of flats, it is even more problematic. Property right in terms of flat ownership can only happen if the structure has been built and some amount of completion happened, as opposed to buying land.
So, in the past few years, courts and consumer forums have been coming to the aid of end consumers. Approaching these companies in the case of delays or some other deficiencies typically did not yield anything with consumers feeling that companies were playing them along or being uncaring of their problems and not providing any solutions. A number of people started approaching the courts and consumer forums for help in this regard, and judgments in this regard have started coming out and providing solutions to people. Realty companies sometimes crib about how they are face a difficult business environment, but for the consumers, life is typically much more difficult. In most cases, the situation would be that they are facing a difficult economic and financial situation and need some kind of settlement. As in this case, where the delivery of the property has been delayed for many years and the builder has not been providing any relief; so when the judgment provides for compensation along with an interest payment, it provides the relief that the consumer is looking for and provides an escape cause – hopefully this judgment would also ensure that builders take this situation much more seriously and with regard to the feelings of the consumer (link to article):
The apex consumer commission has directed real-estate major Unitech Limited to pay over Rs 60 lakh to a Gurgaon resident for not giving him possession of an apartment booked a decade ago at Greater Noida.
The National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission (NCDRC) asked the firm to pay the amount with an interest of 18 per cent per annum, from the date the total demand amount was deposited with the Unitech, which is also facing several other complaints, including a joint claim by 144 home-buyers.
A bench headed by Justice J M Malik held that the desire to acquire the property had “ruined the life” of the buyer and the real estate major “harassed” him by asking “for interest on the delayed payment when there was no progress of project”.