Cheated By A Builder? Here Are The Remedies Available To You

Buying a home is not only one of the most important but also one of the most expensive decisions people make in their lives. With the real estate prices skyrocketing, it’s no surprise that owning a home is becoming more and more difficult and a major chunk of even a dual household income goes towards buying a home and repaying the loan. It thus is very stressful when the homebuyers come across a situation where the builder is adapting to unfair practices. Read on to know what legal remedies are available with the buyers to tackle such situations. 

Legal remedies available to you

Let us have a look at some of the legal remedies available to the home buyers.

1. Civil remedy- The Civil Procedure Code, 1908, facilitates to file a case against a builder in case of unfair practices. The suffering party can file a case in civil court demanding the damages and refund with interest. The suffering party can also file for an injunction. The jurisdiction in the subject matter and the court fees vary from state to state. The lawyer’s fees will also depend on their expertise and gravity of the matter.                                                                                                                                                                                
2. Consumer Forum- Consumer Forums established under the Consumer Protection Act, 1986, are one of the most powerful remedies available to the home buyers. The suffering party can raise a dispute with the consumer court within two years. Consumer forum has a three-tier mechanism catering to disputes on the basis of the cost involved. It also is an extremely cost-effective legal remedy available to the home buyer.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                               
3. Competition Commission of India- Competition Act, 2002, enables home buyers to file a complaint against the builders who have taken undue advantage of their dominant position and the practices have been unfair to the home buyers and the competition commission has the authority to investigate and levy fines. The cost of filing the fees is as less as INR5000/-                                                                                                                                                                               
4. Regulatory Forums- Regulatory Forums such as RERA have very strict compliance rules. Any irregularity from the builder or non-compliance can be reported to these authorities and if found guilty the builder can be charged with hefty fines. The Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act was established in 2016 and is hoped to be an extremely powerful legal remedy available to the consumers.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           
5. Criminal Courts- The Indian Penal Code, 1860, has the provision where a homebuyer can file a case against the builder for cheating, breach of trust, not responding to grievances and poor construction quality. These complaints are treated as criminal offences and are tried in criminal courts.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         
6. Arbitration- Most of the builder-buyer agreements opt for an arbitration clause where the matters have to be settled by the means of arbitration. The Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996, facilitates the proceedings.

 

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