Two home buyers at Ten BKC in Bandra East learnt the importance of a sale agreement the hard way. Amit Saxena and Milee Shetty did not get any relief from the Maharashtra Real Estate Regulation Authority (MahaRERA), which ruled in favour of Radius Estates and Developers, as they failed to go through the fine print of the agreement.
Mr Saxena and Ms Shetty had booked their flats in 2016 and 2019 for around Rs3.81 crore and Rs5.50 crore, respectively. While marketing the project, the developer promised waiver of stamp duty and registration charges and even mentioned it in the allotment letters, but withdrew the onus by discreetly mentioning in the sale agreement that the buyer is responsible for the cost. As a result, Mr Saxena and Ms Shetty had to pay the statutory charges from their own pocket. They moved MahaRERA after failing to get a refund from the developer.
At MahaRERA, the builder denied the contention by referring to an executed sale agreement, wherein it was stated that the onus to bear the cost was on the buyers. It also stated that the two buyers were also part of a litigation being heard in the National Company Law Tribunal as part of the homebuyers group for certain reliefs.
Mr Saxena and Ms Shetty claimed that the developers, while executing the registered agreements for sale, had changed the clause unilaterally and shifted the burden upon them. They said they signed the agreement without going into details of every clause due to paucity of time.
MahaRERA Member Mahesh Pathak observed, “MahaRERA is not inclined to grant any relief in favour of these complaints… Needless to state that the agreements for sale signed by both the parties supersede all earlier contracts made between the parties.”
