Needless mentioning adverse impact of the Covid-19 pandemic and lockdown, but the concern is only for builders risk of defaulting on RERA timelines so dates are extended for the record. The Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs advise states/UTs and their regulatory authorities to treat Covid-19 as an event of ‘Force Majeure’ just for builders and other industry lobbyists.
The RERA was promoted as force to protect the interests of event-less home buyers and restoring the trust between developers and property buyers, but just like many other acts it sounds mutated to protect corporate builders and bonded financiers. So the builder hypes with frontal and lateral frog-jumps from one project to another for more bucks, dumping paid ‘Force Minore’ buyers, and hallucinating new ones. A sure win for Builders & Housing Finance lobby of ruling family, but common home buyers will suffer as usual, ask for mercy LOL or whatever!
Bottom-line: Builders shamelessly exploit loopholes, bribed authorities sit and watch for good reasons, extorted home buyers continue to suffer with delays and non-delivery even with stringent laws. With its hired panel of profiteering counsels kit, consumer courts and legal actions don’t bother them, despite nature’s covid punch-back softie, situation is still hellish and deadly mess everywhere..
A builder enthusiastically writes to its customer (just for record to present in its favorite court):
| Further as you are aware, the nationwide lockdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic has created an unprecedented predicament. The timeline for possession of your project was Sep 2021; however due to the COVID situation, authorities have extended the timeline of ongoing projects by 6 months thus the same now stands at Mar 2022… |
Though it mentions unprecedented predicament, it deliberately fails to note that the disaster has affected all including its funding customers, some of whom will still be paying home rent, loan repayments, inflation taxes, etc.. due to possession delay. Will builders keep this in record while demanding 100% dues + its bonus or smartly apply age-old “chalta hai jugaad” appreciating Indian buyers sharp memories, Ram Bharose?
A state sponsored seller dares to demand 100% money from affordable-trapped buyers before even showing the product, forget delivering as promised. Its simply classical extortion for laundering – neither trade, law or so-called builder buyer agreement. Here, indifferent & defiant stories are less about growing high-income suburbs than about rise of utter despair.
Be vigilant while applying for any loan. A few protocols can safeguard you from loan related frauds. Guidelines to stay safe:
- Never trust offers that seek advance payments or pre-sanction payments for processing loan application
- Do not trust loan offers that provide cash-backs, interest waiver or zero interest rates
- Always ask the loan executive for an identification proof before sharing your documents
- Always follow the process shared by the bank official and verify every document