Varun Singh
Let me start this column with a question I ask every homebuyer I meet. When you bought your home, or when you are about to, how much time did you spend comparing the price per square foot across projects? Now ask yourself the second question. How much time did you spend understanding the law that protects you once you have paid that price?
If your answer to the second question is less than the first, you are not alone. Almost every homebuyer I have spoken to over the years has spent weeks negotiating rate, floor rise, and payment schedule, but almost none of them read the Agreement for Sale line by line, or knew that the carpet area promised to them is a legally defined term under RERA, not a builder’s estimate.
This column, which I begin today, is not going to be about which locality is appreciating faster or which builder is launching what. There is enough of that already. What I want to bring to you, is something more useful in the long run: how the law actually works for a homebuyer in Mumbai, told through real orders. Because behind every order is a person like you, who paid their savings for a home and then had to fight to be treated fairly.
Let me give you two small examples to begin with, both from Mumbai.
In one matter involving a redevelopment project in the city’s central suburbs, a buyer signed the Agreement for Sale trusting the area figure quoted by the developer, without checking how carpet area is defined in law. Years later, when the flat was measured, the actual carpet area fell short of what was promised. The buyer had to approach a forum to claim a refund for the shortfall, a battle that could have been avoided by simply asking for the RERA-registered carpet area figure before signing.
In another matter, from a project in the western suburbs, a buyer kept waiting for possession year after year, paying rent elsewhere, without realising that the law entitled them to interest for every month of delay from the very first day. It was only after approaching MahaRERA that the builder was directed to pay. The buyer got justice, but three years too late.
Both these buyers were not careless people. They simply did not know what the law already gave them.
That is what this column will try to change, telling homebuyers about their rights, one story at a time. I will keep it simple, and I will keep it honest.
Until the next one, do write to me with your questions or your own experiences as a homebuyer.
Varun Singh X: @singhvarun
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