Pay 10 per cent interest on late payment: RERA to buyer

Mumbai: A homebuyer has been asked to pay a 10 per cent interest to a Parel-based project's developer for an outstanding amount of around Rs26 lakh towards consideration costs and additional charge, as per a MahaRERA court’s order. The homebuyer, Satyanarayan Kejriwal, had accused the developers, L&T Realty and Omkar builders, of uploading false details about the carpet area of a purchased flat by him but the allegation turned out as incorrect.

The complainant had a flat in the realtors' ‘Crescent Bay-T4’ Parel residential project. The complaint backfired after the developer proved the allegation to be wrong. It was brought to the notice of the court that the complainant had delayed the payment even after being handed over the allotment letter.

According to the order, the developer had executed the sale agreement in 2014, and the allotment letter was given in March t-his year after receiving the OC. The complainant had paid around Rs2,90,000. The developers claimed that Rs15,15,943 towards the consideration and Rs11,74,500 towards additional charge (excluding taxes) and Rs42,370 towards interest are due from the complainant.

He claimed interest under section 19 (7) of the Act, which empowers the developer to charge interest in case of delay in payments. Hearing both sides, adjudicating officer B. D. Kapadnis, who was hearing the case, ordered, “The complainant shall pay the respondents.”