Mumbai: The project developer and homebuyers have both been asked to pay interest to each other by the Maharashtra Real Estate Regulatory Authority (MahaRERA) in the case of India's first residential project – Rivali Park Wintergreen at Borivali – that received priority debt finance under the Special Window for Completion of Affordable and Mid-Income Housing (SWAMIH) fund for stalled projects.
Earlier this month, MahaRERA chairperson Ajoy Mehta, in seven different petitions filed before it ordered that the developer of Rivali Park – CCI Projects and Cable Corporation of India – is liable to pay interest to the homebuyers for the delay in handing over possession, from July 2015 till the date of handover.
Homebuyers directed to pay interest to the developer
Further, for the delay in payments made and possession taken of the apartments booked, homebuyers were directed to pay interest to the developer. The petitioners took possession of their respective apartments on different dates, which is in the range of 3-5 months after the developer offered them to take charge of the flats.
Throughout the project's phase, since the inception of MahaRERA in May 2017, around 173 petitions were filed by the homebuyers to get justice such as payment refund, interest on delay in possession, etc. During the course of the project and post the project’s completion, several of the flat buyers opted for settlement, some are pending for hearing, and some went in for conciliation, a few moved to other judicial forums, among others.
PROJECT TIMELINE
2013: Wintergreen project launched
2015: Project overshoots deadline
2017: Non-availability of sand
2017: Introduction of GST
2019: Non-banking financial company crisis impacts the project
2020 (Feb): SWAMIH Fund invests Rs120 cr
2021 (April): Occupation certificate received
