Mumbai's home-buyers share stories of fighting for their dream homes

Justice ChatterjeeAt the Maharashtra Real Estate Regulatory Authority MahaRERA office in Bandra East the customer is always king Unlike most government offices in the state where lunch hours are taken seriously here time is not wasted in indulging the ways and life of the bureaucracy Since the implementation of the Real Estate Regulation and Development Act 2016 see box in May last year MahaRERA mdash formed two months prior mdash listens to an average of 70 cases daily Lawyers whorsquove experienced the grind of waiting through futile dates at civil courts will tell you that this is a good numberBy 230 pm right after lunch hearings are already on in full swing Harrowed residents along with an ammo of lawyers fighting against them make their way in and out of the ldquocourt roomrdquo presided by Gautam Chatterjee chairman of the now yearold authority Some emerge elated the others predictably disappointed Irrespective of the outcome decisions are taken quicklyWhen MahaRERA was first launched it gave homeowners and buyers an opportunity to fight their battles on their own All they had to do was register a complaint online MahaRERAmahaonlinegovin and the assurance was that the case would be heard within a month While a year on promises are being kept there is also a sense of disgruntlement among those who didnrsquot see the result they expected For them the law is still not all pervasive and the teething troubles are far too manyMany grievances no solutionWhen Nitin Sood right booked a flat in the Orchard Metropolis in 2016 he was told that the flat was ready for possession During a visit to the site last year he realised that only pillars had been constructed Even now work on the gym pool and garden are far from ready PicDatta KumbharRight outside Kurla East station a new highrise Orchid Metropolis has been at the heart of a dispute between 36yearold Nitin Sood a pilot with Jet Airways and a conglomerate of companies working under Innovative GroupIt all began in October 2016 when Sood visited the Maharashtra Chambers of Housing Industry MCHI exhibition and ensnared by what he describes as a fabulous brochure on the building and its ldquoreadytomoverdquo homes decided to buy a flat on the 9th floor of the F wing At the time the builder had authorised a sales agency MS Magus Consulting Pvt Ltd to undertake the paperworkIt was however only a month later on November 6 when Sood visited the Magusrsquos sales office and booked the flat ldquoAt the time I was provided two different sheets of paper The first was a cost sheet detailing the booking amount for a 2BHK They claimed to be selling me a 1107 sq ft saleable area for Rs 12000 per sqft Along with two car parking spaces which came at R6 lakh each and tax the entire sale was to cost me around Rs 185 crorerdquo says Sood The second sheet included an application form for allotment of the unit He booked the flat and made a down payment of R5 lakh Incidentally at this point he didnrsquot feel the need to visit the site The staff at Magus had given him a ldquovideo tour of the project describing in detail the amenities and specificationsrdquoAccording to the existing Maharashtra Ownership Flat Act MOFA rules a homebuyer cannot sign a written agreement until an advance payment of 20 per cent is made Sood was yet to pay an additional Rs 25 lakh before the agreement could be signed ldquoI promised to pay the sum in instalments by mid2017rdquo he recallsDuring the end of the financial year in March 2017 the builders however ended their contract with Magus and started dealing with their buyers directly It is during the same time that the RERA law came into force which stated that if a buyer had paid 10 per cent of the amount in advance he could sign a written agreement with the builderldquoBy then I had already paid Rs 15 lakh and was entitled to receive the agreementrdquo says Sood who now occupies a rented flat in the E wing of the same building in Kurla It was only then that Sood learnt that the said flat was far from being constructed and that permission to build the wing was only granted in December a month after he had booked the flatldquoI visited the site and saw that only pillars were up There was no sign of a home I was shockedrdquo he says He realised that he had been sold a flat with a carpet area of 560 sqft He had mistaken the saleable area for carpet area mdash the former is inclusive of carpet and builtup area and all the space under common spaces like the lobby staircase lift security and other amenities including gym and gardenHe hired the services of a consulting engineer and valuer Ashok Kelkar who pointed out that there was a flaw in the valuation Generally the saleable area is reached by multiplying the carpet area with the percentage of loading factor mdash this combines usable sqft in addition to a percentage of the sqft of common areas that the tenant is expected to benefit fromldquoI was charged nearly 966 per cent as loading factor when the valuer said that it should have been anywhere between 25 to 40 per centrdquo he saysReaching out to RERALast October Sood who by then had bought himself a handy guidebook on the MahaRERA Act available at most bookstores now and was studying it extensively decided to file a complaint with RERA His hearing came within 25 days ldquoIn the first hearing the builderrsquos lawyer didnrsquot show up I submitted a list of 13 grievances to Chatterjee and he called the builderrsquos lawyer and myself for a second hearing Itrsquos then that Chatterjee told me that he could not intervene unless an agreement had been signed between the two parties While the money had been paid I had refused to sign the deal because of the flaws I had exposedrdquo The judge gave them 30 days time to revise and amend the agreement based on RERA laws At the last and final hearing earlier this year they had still failed to arrive at a conclusion and thatrsquos when Chatterjee refused to take it ahead He said since there was no legal document in place the case couldnrsquot be taken forward and that he had to dispose it ofrdquoNow Sood plans to take the builders MS Bharat Mahan Developers amp Builders and the other partners to court for cheating ldquoWhile the RERA Act is undoubtedly effective there are many areas that dont come within the ambit of its jurisdictionrdquo Sood saysManager sales for Innovative Group Laxman S Madan on behalf of the builders said ldquoYes Sood had filed a complaint against us in RERA but the case has been disposed of in our favour We do not wish to comment furtherrdquoWhatrsquos the good newsNot everyone appears to be disappointed with the RERA court In February this year members of the Tanvi Eminence Owners Welfare Association in Kashimira got major relief from the court when Chatterjee intervened and put an end to their five yearlong battle with Tanvi Constructions Pvt Ltd Dayabhai Sutariya and Bhupat Ravijbhai Lukhi who had allotted the people flats in a yettobeconstructed building in 2011 Differences between the promoters and failure to get environmental clearances put the project on hold since 2013 ldquoWe put our entire life savings into the flats and the builders were least interested in solving our problemrdquo says Kishore Manyal chairman of the associationDespite the dispute between the promoters being heard in the Bombay high court Manyal reached out to Ramesh Prabhu housing activist and chairman of the Maharashtra Societies Welfare Association Prabhu then helped the association file a complaint with RERA online ldquoIn the first hearing Chatterjee sir assured us that he would solve our problem By the fourth hearing he settled the issues between the promoters and they agreed to sell their stakes to Sutariya who has been asked to hand over the units by December 2019 We are grateful to both Chatterjee sir and Sutariya who agreed to take on the project RERA ensured we have a roof above our heads soonrdquo says ManyalAdvocate Vinod Sampat who is also president of the Cooperative Societies Residents Users and Welfare Association says RERA is a boon for flat purchasers who propose to buy underconstruction flats ldquoThe builder has to maintain transparency He cannot divert the funds He has to form a cooperative society as soon as 50 per cent of the flats are sold Necessary documents like plans model agreements details pertaining to property like title clearance certificate details of litigation are available on the website And only after plans are approved can he sell the premises He also has to specify the date by which possession would be given Penalties are very high Builders are now scared of RERArdquo he saysTeething troublesItrsquos the old projects that are currently not in the net of RERA and this say lawyers makes it difficult for homeowners to fight their case Further says Prabhu according to central RERA law if buildings donrsquot have an occupation certificate OC and are not registered with RERA but residents have occupied the flat already their complaints are not entertained Currently there are at least 10000 nonregistered buildings in the city and three lakh others across the stateldquoWhatrsquos worse is that even cases of complainants occupying flats in buildings which are registered with RERA but donrsquot have an OC are not heard The judges say such cases donrsquot fall under their scope I think thatrsquos unfortunaterdquo says Prabhu ldquoPresently all redevelopment projects including Slum Rehabilitation Authority and MHADA also donrsquot fall under the ambit of RERA due to which several complainants go back dejectedrdquo says SampatMohammed Nagori 24 whose aunt Mumtaz Jamal Ali Siddiqui is the owner of the land where Orchard Metropolis was built had also approached RERA court last month as the builders had yet to give possession of the houses mdash 31 per cent of property which comes to around 18000 sqft mdash that had been promised to the slum dwellers The building was under the SRA scheme he says ldquoRERA disposed of the case saying SRA issues donrsquot come under their jurisdiction and suggested that the civic court be approachedrdquoThen therersquos the issue of representation in court One advocate on condition of anonymity said that when RERA started it was canvassed as a publicfriendly institution where people could go and challenge the builders on their own after filing a complaint online ldquoThe builders however have their own lawyers representing them And the public is not very technically sound Due to this at least 60 per cent of the people either withdraw their cases mdash once withdrawn you canrsquot appeal again mdash or opt for compromiserdquo says the lawyerPrabhu says RERA officials usually reject cases on technical grounds ldquoThe layman is not aware of the sections in RERA under which their rights are violated It is hence better to hire an advocate The other way to go about this is to study the rules and the 1000odd judgments that have already been passed and take your case forward on your own If the case is dismissed an appeal is possiblerdquoChatterjee who is at the helm of MahaRERA believes that in time the law will expand its jurisdiction ldquoI am an authority who is supposed to implement the rules set by the centre and state If something is added to that I will be happy to implement it And the state government has already decided that cess MHADA and SRA buildings will come under the ambit The changes will be made once a government resolution is passed I feel satisfied that the Act is being implemented in its true letter and spiritrdquoWhat is RERARERAThe Real Estate Regulation and Development Act 2016 RERA was first passed by the parliament in May 2016 The following year the Union Ministry of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation had formulated and notified rules for the functioning of the regulator RERA was introduced to bring clarity and fair practices that would protect the interests of homebuyers and also impose penalties on errant builders According to RERA each state and Union territory will have its own regulator and set of rules to govern the functioning of the regulator The Centre has drafted the rules for Union territories including the national capital New Delhi States on the other hand were asked to establish their own regulatory authority in keeping with RERA Haryana Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra have already setup their regulatorsCOMPLAINANTSlum dweller Mohammed Nagori 24 who had been promised a home by the builder since Orchid Metropolis was built under the SRA scheme was turned away by Chatterjee saying SRA doesnrsquot come under RERArsquos jurisdictionCOMPLAINANTNitin Sood 36 booked a 2BHK at the Kurla East located Orchid Metropolis bottom right but a delay in construction and misappropriation of saleable area led him to fight his own case at the RERA court Not having signed an agreement meant that Chatterjee had to dispose of the plea The R15 lakh booking amount invested by Sood now lies in limboAlso ReadRERA Cracks Down On Builder Makes Him Pay Rs 7 Crores For False PromisesCatch 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