A case was filed against a project titled “Aurum Pride Tower” at Padur, on the outskirts of Chennai, by 2 homebuyers for a refund of the payment they made for a flat in this housing project.
The case was that the complainants booked an apartment in the housing project worth Rs. 53.9 lakhs out which they paid Rs. 52.2 lakhs in 2013 with a sale agreement between the homebuyers and the builder.
The builder executed a sale deed assuring the homebuyers that the flat will be given to them in 2015. The construction for the said project was not able to get completed and therefore the homebuyers were not handed over the apartment by 2015.
In 2019 the builder of the project informed the homebuyers that the construction of the block in which the apartment was booked can’t be completed. The builder requested them to move to another block.
The complainants then asked to cancel his booking and refund the payment. They filed the case in The Tamil Nadu Real Estate Authority (TNRERA). The authority firstly clarified that the project was not registered, and it was developed by Pacifica (Chennai) Infrastructure Co. Pvt. Ltd.
The Adjudicating authority of TNRERA G. Saravanan after seeing the documents presented by the complainants before them said that the documents proved that the developer failed to complete the construction of the booked flat and handover its possession as promised. Therefore, the complainants (homebuyers) are entitled to get back the payment made with interest and compensation.
TNRERA directed the developer to refund the payment of Rs. 52.2 lakhs to the complainants with an interest of 10% per annum till the repayment is made. The complainants also got additional compensation of Rs. 2.2 lakhs for mental agony and litigation expenses.
Despite being notified of the rules for the Real Estate Act in 2017 by the Government of Tamil Nadu such a project failed to deliver the flats on time and also failed to register with TNRERA.
This order gives such homebuyers who invested in an unregistered project an opportunity to seek relief from the state’s realty regulator.
