Housing regulator Maharashtra Real Estate Regulatory Authority (MahaRERA) has ruled that Aalay Developers of the Empire Solitaire project in Agripada arbitrarily terminated a home buyer’s booking after promising possession in December 2019 on an allotment letter. The developer has been directed to provide another flat of the same size in this project to the home buyer in case of a change of approved plan and register the agreement for sale with 60 days.
Home buyer Fayyaz Amir Ali Shroff had filed a complaint with MahaRERA with respect to his 2BHK flat no 2002 on the 20th floor of Empire Solitaire whose possession was promised by the developer in December 2019 based on an allotment letter issued on July 2, 2019. He had paid Rs 35 lakh for the 844.54 sq ft flat costing Rs 2.27 crore.
The complainant submitted that the promoters did not turn up for registration and subsequently informed him that they planned to make it a 17-storey building instead of 20 storey planned earlier. He had urged the developer to allot him a flat on lower floors and pro-rata reduce the floor charges accordingly. However, the developer terminated the booking and the agreement.
Aalay Developers contended that the complaint was premature and submitted that as per the agreement for sale dated June 2019, the possession was promised within 24 months from the date of registration of the agreement. It contended that the firm had agreed to sell the flat for Rs 2.27 crore if the complainant registered the agreement the next day and paid the entire consideration on or before August 1, 2019. However, the complainant failed to comply and the booking was terminated after 7-day notice.
After taking into account the written submissions from both the sides, MahaRERA member Vijay Satbir Singh observed that the bare perusal of the agreement indicated that it is not prepared as per the model agreement prescribed under RERA and contains clauses such as clause no 22 which are not in consonance with the RERA provisions.
Ruling that the termination was not done in a valid manner, he said clause 22 (c) of the agreement signed by both parties but not registered stated that a 30-day notice would be given to the flat buyer before termination, but the developer had only given a 7 day notice before termination on September 27, 2019 in contravention of the clause 22(c) in the agreement for sale.
“Hence, the MahaRERA prima facie is of the view that the termination is not done in accordance with the agreement for sale signed by the parties as provided under section 11(5) of the RERA. Hence the same is set aside. Moreover, though the respondent has cancelled the said booking, it has not refunded the money to the complainant. It shows that, the said termination has not attained finality,” said Singh in the order.
