The Hon’ble Supreme Court of India has asked the central government to frame the builder-buyer agreement and has termed it essential to protect homebuyer sentiments. The Supreme Court bench led by Justice DY Chandrchud said the model agreement should be built upon the Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act, 2016, to ensure the protection of consumers.
This move was escalated through Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed by advocate and BJP leader Ashwini Upadhyay, allowing all the states to enforce the builder-buyer agreement and model agent-buyer agreement and take steps to avoid the mental, physical and financial problems to customers.
“Promoters, builders, and agents use manifestly arbitrary one-sided agreements that do not place customers at an equal platform with them, which offends Articles 14, 15, 21 of the Constitution. There have been many cases of deliberate inordinate delays in handing over possession, and customers lodge complaints, but the police don’t register FIRs, citing arbitrary clauses of the agreement,” the PIL said.
Earlier, the housing ministry had brought a model builder-buyer agreement for residential projects, but it was seen that no state had decided to adopt the agreement fully. Only Union Territories have given the nod to comply with the agreement proposed by the central government.
Noida Federation of Apartment Owners’ Association President Rajiva Singh suggested that “all such transactions should be digitalized to create further protection.” Highlighting the plight of consumers, the NOFAA chief said: “Homebuyers have been exploited for long, and it is time some radical changes are made.”
Many developers across the country still follow the traditional process of pre-launching the project without securing the requisite approvals from the authorities and term it “soft launch” or “pre-launch,” which openly violates the law.
The PIL filed also directed to compensate buyers for the losses incurred due to the excessive delays by developers.
