Mumbai: MahaRERA grants relief to 42 Kharghar hombuyers in landmark judgement

Mumbai: Flat buyers of the Greenwoods project in Kharghar are relieved as MahaRERA directed the project's developers to provide possession and an occupancy certificate (OC) to 42 homebuyers that approached the authority seeking redressal. In one of the biggest success stories of Navi Mumbai, buyers of the project had united against the developer to seek possession of their flat along with compensation for delayed possession.

The developers had stated that the delay was due to a pending no objection certificate (NOC) from the airport authority, which was required on account of the upcoming Navi Mumbai airport. However, the RERA authority didn't find the reasons put forward sufficient for delaying possession to the homebuyers.

Advocate Parth Chande from RERA Easy, representing the homebuyers, said, “Buyers generally assume that extension of the RERA registration date is an extension of the possession date and hence they are not entitled to claim relief under section 18 of the Act. However, it is important for buyers to understand the provisions of the Act. A developer may extend the registration of the project under section 6 or 7(3) of the Act but that doesn't curtail the rights of the buyers to seek compensation for delayed possession.” He added that developers are liable to pay interest from the possession date mentioned in the sale agreement and not the RERA registration period.

According to Mr Chande, the buyers were initially sceptical about filing a case since the proposed date of the completion of the project was revised from Dec 21, 2019, to Dec 2022. However, after receiving proper guidance, the buyers realised that even though the registration date has been extended by MahaRERA to Dec 31, 2022, the developers were liable to pay compensation from the date of possession mentioned in the sale agreement.

The joint venture project is being developed by three prominent developer groups of Navi Mumbai – BKS Galaxy Realtors, Rekhi Sai Realty and Proviso Builder & Developers. A representative from Proviso refused to comment on the matter, while the remaining parties did not respond despite several attempts to get in touch.