Flat buyers get excuses and a six-month wait after MahaRERA order

Six buyers of flats in Vidhi Developerss upcoming and delayed project in Kandivali West might have to wait longer to get their money back from the builders Their lawyer fears the recent order given by the MahaRERA directing the suburban collector to attach the property might not be executed as easily and turn out to be a longdrawn process as the collectors office has begun making excuses even before accepting the orderThe developers owe the buyers over Rs 4 crore for not adhering to the assurances of handing over the possession of the flats on time One of the buyers is Kotachiwadi resident Sainath Sarode 37 who had booked a flat in the project in 2011 when he was working in the Middle East Hed paid over R41 lakh for the 680 sq ft property which was promised to be delivered to him by December 2015Didnt stick to his wordSarode told midday As the project was not ready Id decided to pull out of it and demanded a refund from the builder which he did not give even after making promises Six families whod booked flats in the same project came together and dragged the builder to MahaRERA who later passed an order in our favour However when we went to the collectors office to submit the order copy for attaching the property of the developer in order to give us a refund we were asked to come after six months We were surprised After the order came through the buyers procured the warrant to attach the builders properties in the last week of OctoberHe added Before the MahaRERA hearing the developers representative had made assurances of giving us a refund with the interest amount and asked for an extension which was agreed upon and he still did not stick to his word The developer was to refund us our principal amount in three instalments and the fourth one would have covered our interest amount But he did not honour a single instalment therefore we moved MahaRERA again and an attachment order midday has a copy was passed for seizing developers assets and refunding the flat buyersNo clue about whats nextWe were hopeful that post MahaRERAs order well get our money back but seeing the response from the collectors office we have no clue about the next procedure We dont even know what properties the developer has and what action the collector will take he said According to advocate Godfrey Peminta who represented the buyers before MahaRERA said Even after passing an order in favour of the flat buyers they have to run from pillar to post The whole object of RERA gets defeated if authorities like the Collector cite shortage of staff to execute the warrant of attachment of properties of the builder in a timebound mannerHe added Does it take four months to execute such a warrant Because the staff at the Collectors office informed the flat purchasers that it will be executed only after March 2019 When midday reached out to the Collectors office a senior officer said We are currently tied up with electoral duties This matter will be taken up as and when the quantum of load reducesRs 4crAmount developers owe the buyersAll we need is timeJinam Shah the legal representative of Vidhi Developers said the project was left incomplete for sometime due to financial difficulties But theyve started work again Regarding the buyers she said Wed asked for some time from the flat buyers but the time given to us was very limited and as we could not arrange for the instalment money we could not honour our promise Also we must understand that the amount is also very huge and it would not have been possible to arrange the same in such a short timeWere also contemplating approaching MahaRERA once again to request them to reconsider the attachment order and as our intent is to repay the flat buyers all we are asking for is some extra time to adhere to the payment schedule dates We are going as per the procedure and will follow the same Shah saidDeveloper owes Sainath Sarode R7168283 Sankalp Kelkar R6187257 Melanie Mascarenhas R10833163 Rupa Shetty R5353416 Rinchen Wangdi R5278563 Nima Wangdi R5278563It will be a long waitAdvocate Vinod Sampat an expert on MahaRERA admitted that the flat buyers will indeed have to wait for a long time Such orders are welcome but we must also understand that while MahaRERA has the power to pass such orders it is up to the Collector to use his discretion to give a final hearing to the developer and MahaRERA representative before deciding on the property and assets that need to be attached which in itself is a timeconsuming process MahaRERA does not currently have a mechanism where a representative will appear before the Collector during the final hearing This also means that unless more manpower is appointed it will remain a challenge he saidCatch up on all the latest Crime National International and Hatke news here Also download the new midday Android and iOS apps to get latest updates