Home buyers are now fighting fraud builders head-on

Home buyers are no more the victims; in fact, with their newfound legal powers, they are becoming more and more confident about challenging the mighty real estate developers. They are now seeing courts, demanding justice and filing cases for cheating, fraud and delays in delivery against builders.

In the recent past, we came across one such case, when Unitech chairman, two MDs and a director spent a night in jail. Proactive orders from the National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission (NCDRC) against different builders too have boosted the confidence of home buyers and motivated them to fight builders in different forums.

However, for MDs and CEOs of real estate firms, this has come in the form of a wakeup call. They are now clear about delivering promises and dealing with customers with care.

Hiroo Advani, who is a senior partner at law firm Advani & Co, expects that with recent developments, more consumers would now come forward and file such complaints.

"Home-buyers have realised that civil remedies are not good enough and criminal proceedings are turning out to be more effective. This seems to be the only way left to ensure that developers deliver on their promises. With this, developers would have to take up personal and not just professional responsibility hereon," he told ET.

The popular cases against real estate companies and builders that we have seen in recent months include that of Noida-based builder Rahul Gaur (Brys group) who was arrested by Odisha police, and a Gurgaon court’s warrant against ERA-Adel Landmark after having found it involved in 21 fraud cases.

In Gurgaon, once a booming property hub, the district administration has formed the Gurgaon Arbitration Council which would resolve pending real estate disputes in a fast track manner.

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