National Consumer Dispute Redressal Commission(NCDRC) on Friday said that homebuyers are entitled to seek refunds in such cases if promises made in brochures at the time of booking flats are not fulfilled.
In order to meet the completion deadline and to avoid litigation, the builders’ entire focus is on completing the construction of the flats and to offer possession but in most of the cases they do not put in place amenities like club, gym, green area etc at the time of handing over the flats.The commission now has ruled that buyers would have the option of not accepting the possession and seek refunds. “When a project is advertised and sold on the basis of certain amenities, these cannot be ignored and the complainants have the right to seek a refund in their absence on the date of offer of possession,” it said.
The commission passed the order on the plea of a homebuyer who had booked a flat in M3M Woodshire in Sector 107, Gurgaon. He booked it in Dec 2012 and as per the agreement he was to be handed over possession by Oct 2016. The builder got an occupation certificate in April 2017 and offered to hand over possession the same month but the buyer refused, saying that amenities promised to him were absent.
The homebuyer’s lawyers, Aditya Parolia and Ishita Singh, said there were many deficiencies. The green area outside the towers had been drastically reduced and repurposed. They contended that the promised 60-metre-wide road connecting to the expressway was absent. The builder, however, refuted the allegation and said the buyer was not entitled to a refund.
The commission, after examining the documents and status of the construction, allowed the plea of the buyer and directed the builder to refund his amount with 8% interest.
“The important issue raised by the complainant is that the builder has not completed construction of the project as per the brochure…. After going through documents, I notice the builder has certainly committed deficiency in not completing the project as the amenities like the club house, convenience, shopping etc provided in its brochure…. When a project is advertised and sold on the basis of certain amenities, these cannot be ignored,” the bench of Binoy Kumar said.”The complainants have a right to seek refund with … in case of a project having been not complete in all respects as on date of offer of possession,” the commission said.
