Mumbai: MahaRERA upholds another buyer's interest

The Maharashtra Real Estate Regulatory Authority MahaRERA has yet again stood up for a flat buyer who was refused possession of a house he had booked in Goregaons Imperial Heightsin 2016Valuing over Rs 2 crore the buyer had paid 20 per cent of the amount while the remaining 80 per cent was arranged by the developerappointed Indiabulls Housing Finance Limited using a tripartite agreement However having failed to hand over the possession of the property MahaRERA has directed the developer to repay the amount deposited by the buyer along with an interest in its order dated October 1 2018However if highly placed sources are to be believed the builder has now decided to challenge the MahaRERA order in the Bombay High court Bhuvanesh Shrivastava 40 who runs a production company had booked a flat along with his wife Priyali Saxena admeasuring approximately 730 sq ft carpet area in May 2016 As per the complaint made to MahaRERA of which this paper has a copy the flat was booked for a total consideration of Rs 20300269 and an allotment letter was thus issued on May 25 2016 The developer Ms Epitome Residency Pvt Ltd had promised to hand over the possession of the flat by September 30 2017Bhuvanesh ShrivastavaAfter being denied possession in time Shrivastava through a notice dated May 5 2018 cancelled the allotment letter as well as the tripartite loan agreement and asked the developer to refund the amount paid by the couple When there was no response from the developer the complainant moved MahaRERA through advocate Shakib ShaikhDeveloper refutes chargeAdvocate Vibhav Krishna representing Ms Epitome Residency Pvt Ltd argued that a tripartite agreement signed on May 31 2016 was executed whereby the complainants have opted for a subvention scheme while the project is under construction the developer pays the interest on the loan to the bank The buyers EMIs begin only after he gets possession and had subrogated their rights to receive refund in favour of the lender This implies that the developer is not liable to pay any refund to the buyerThereafter on April 10 2017 the complainants have executed an indemnitycumdeclaration stating that they have certain difficulties and cannot execute the agreement for sale and therefore requested the developer to hold the flat On January 25 2018 the developer wrote a letter to the complainants that preEMI interest from July 1 2016 till possession shall be payable by them at the time of possession The complainants replied through an email on April 10 2018 terminating the agreement on the basis of delay in handing over possession The developers lawyer also argued that till date they have paid an EMI interest to the lender Indiabulls Housing Finance Ltd aggregating Rs 2102329 on the loan availed by the complainant and also brokerage of Rs 812011MahaRERA orderIn his order Dr Vijay Satbir Singh member 1 MahaRERA stated The indemnity bond applies only to the issue of nonexecution of the registered sale agreement It has no relevance with the present complaint in which they have asked for cancellation of the agreement and refund of their money under section 18 of the RERA Act 2016Dr Singh also stated that the tripartite agreement says that the complainants have no obligation to make any payment towards EMI till gaining possession of the flat However the lender began levying EMI and thus they had no other option but to cancel the allotmentThe developer will have to make the outstanding payment to Indiabulls Housing Finance Ltd under tripartite agreement and the MahaRERA directs the developer to refund the booking amount paid by the complainants along with applicable interest under the provisions of MahaRERA Act 2016 MCLR marginal cost of fundsbased lending rate plus two per cent under RERA Act 2016 Singh statedDream house postponedWhen contacted Shrivastava said It is over a month since the MahaRERA order was passed but till now the developer has not followed it I continue to stay in my rented apartment for a monthly rent of Rs 60000 This was to be my first dream house in Mumbai but unfortunately it will take some more time he said My only concern is that for no fault of mine my CIBIL scoring is getting severely impacted as the monthly ECS from my bank to Indiabulls account is not getting cleared I have learnt a hard lesson and would advice aspiring flat buyers not to invest in any under construction project he addedWhen contacted advocate Krishna confirmed that they will move the Bombay High Court challenging the RERA order Our main contention is that MahaRERA has not considered the bond signed by the complainants Krishna saidCatch up on all the latest Mumbai news crime news current affairs and also a complete guide on Mumbai from food to things to do and events across the city here Also download the new midday Android and iOS apps to get latest updates