Defect Liability period under RERA – and how homebuyers can benefit from it!

The Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act has brought a lot to look forward to for the homebuyers all across the country. The new Real Estate Act has now been implemented throughout most of the Country, except few states including West Bengal and National Capital Delhi. The Real Estate Act, known as RERA, aims to provide a safeguard to all the homebuyers from fraud and delays by builders as well as real estate agents. The Act was passed by the Parliament in 2016 and was implemented pan India from May 2017, according to which all the states had to form separate Authorities to administer the Act’s rules and regulations. There was also an initial deadline for registrations of ongoing projects set as 31^st July 2017, giving enough time of three months for builders to register under the Act, but could not be followed due to delays in the formation of RERA Authorities in different states.

A lot has been heard about RERA, but only a little is known to people. Here, we explain a very important component that has been mentioned in the Act and will benefit homebuyers in the coming future.

Defect Liability                               

Defect liability is the liability of the builder to rectify or repair any structural defect that has been observed by the allottee after the property has been delivered without any type of further charges.

Defect Liability period under RERA

A special provision has been made in the RERA Act for defect liability of the builders. According to the Act, for any structural defect or any other defect observed by the allottee violating requirements of Agreement for sale, within five years of possession of the property, should be rectified by the promoter of the project within thirty days. If the promoter fails to do so, the allottee must be compensated.

A section of the Act states –

“In case any structural defect or any other defect in workmanship, quality or provision of services or any other obligations of the promoter as per the agreement for sale relating to such development is brought to the notice of the promoter within a period of five years by the allottee from the date of handing over possession, it shall be the duty of the promoter to rectify such defects without further charge, within thirty days, and in the event of promoter's failure to rectify such defects within such time, the aggrieved allottees shall be entitled to receive appropriate compensation in the manner as provided under this Act.”

Benefit for buyers

The Act provides a period of five years to the allottees to bring to notice any defects observed in the development, which makes it the promoter’s responsibility to deliver a project meeting all the requirements of the Agreement and with superior quality as well.  

Also, the Act gives promoters only a period of 30 days, failing which will result in compensation to the buyer/allottee.

The Buyers can also take the benefit of complaining to the state RERA Authority, in case if the promoter does not agree to meet the demands of the buyer. The Authorities are bound to dispose of complaints within 60 days, which will again be much more convenient for buyers to obtain compensation.

tags   states     RERA