Procedure note · Real estate

Filing a complaint before the Telangana Real Estate Regulatory Authority

What the Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act, 2016 covers, who may complain, how the Authority deals with a complaint, the orders it may pass, and the appeal to the Telangana Real Estate Appellate Tribunal.

1. What the Act covers

The Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act, 2016 regulates the promotion, marketing and sale of apartments, plots and buildings. It requires the registration of projects and of agents, prescribes what a promoter must disclose and must do, and creates a regulatory authority to enforce those obligations. In this State it is administered by the Telangana Real Estate Regulatory Authority under the Act and the State rules made under it.

The obligations most often in issue are adherence to the sanctioned plan and liability for structural defect (section 14), the consequences of a failure to give possession by the date promised (section 18), the limit on the advance a promoter may take before an agreement for sale is executed (section 13), the requirement that a stated proportion of the amounts realised be kept in a separate account for the project, and the correctness of an advertisement or prospectus (section 12).

2. Which projects must be registered

Registration under section 3 is required before a project is advertised, marketed, booked or sold. The Act exempts projects below the thresholds it states — by reference to the area of land and the number of apartments proposed — projects for which a completion certificate had been received before the Act commenced, and works of renovation or repair that do not involve marketing or fresh allotment. The State may lower the thresholds, so the notification in force should be checked rather than assumed.

The registration record — the sanctioned plan, the declared completion date, the specifications and the quarterly updates the promoter is required to upload — is usually the most useful evidence a complainant has, because it is the promoter’s own statement of what was promised.

3. Who may complain

Section 31 allows any aggrieved person to complain of a contravention of the Act, of the rules or of the regulations. That includes an allottee, an association of allottees, and a promoter or agent who is aggrieved. A complaint may be made in respect of a registered project and, where the contravention alleged is the failure to register, in respect of an unregistered one.

4. The two tracks: the Authority and the adjudicating officer

The Act separates regulatory relief from compensation. A complaint to the Authority seeks enforcement of the Act — a direction to the promoter to perform an obligation, a refund with interest, interest for the period of delay, or a penalty. A claim for compensation under the compensation provisions of the Act is decided by an adjudicating officer appointed under section 71, who is a judicial officer and who determines the amount having regard to the factors the Act sets out.

Which track a matter belongs to should be settled before filing, because a claim presented on the wrong track is liable to be transferred or returned. Refund and interest for delay are sought before the Authority; a quantified claim for loss goes to the adjudicating officer.

5. Form, fee and what the complaint contains

A complaint is made in the form prescribed by the Telangana rules, with the prescribed fee, in the manner the Authority directs. The form and the fee are set by the rules and by the Authority’s notifications and are revised from time to time; confirm both before filing rather than relying on a figure published elsewhere.

The complaint ordinarily sets out the particulars of the parties; the project and its registration number; the allotment, the agreement for sale and the dates of payment; the obligation said to have been contravened, with a reference to the provision; and the relief sought. It is supported by an affidavit, and the documents relied upon are filed with it — typically the agreement for sale, the allotment letter, the payment receipts and bank statements, the sanctioned plan and brochure where deviation is alleged, and the notices exchanged.

6. How the complaint is heard

The complaint is scrutinised and numbered, and notice issues to the respondent, who files a reply. The Authority hears the parties, and it may hear a matter itself or through a bench constituted for the purpose. It has, for the purposes the Act specifies, the powers of a civil court under the Code of Civil Procedure — summoning attendance, requiring the production of documents and receiving evidence on affidavit. It may call for information from the promoter, may direct an inquiry, and may make an interim order pending the disposal of the complaint.

The Act requires a complaint to be dealt with as expeditiously as possible and, where it is not disposed of within sixty days, requires the reasons for the delay to be recorded in writing. That is a direction to the Authority, not a guarantee to a party: the period actually taken depends on service, on the number of hearings, on whether records are called for, and on whether the matter is referred for compensation.

7. The orders that may be made

On a complaint the Authority may direct the promoter to discharge the obligation contravened; may direct a refund of the amounts paid with interest at the rate the rules prescribe, or the payment of interest for every month of delay where the allottee elects to remain in the project; may impose the penalty the Act provides for the contravention concerned; and may make consequential directions. An amount ordered and not paid is recoverable as an arrear of land revenue.

8. Appeal

An appeal from an order of the Authority or of the adjudicating officer lies to the Telangana Real Estate Appellate Tribunal, and must be filed within sixty days of the date on which a copy of the order is received. The Tribunal may entertain an appeal filed after that period if satisfied that there was sufficient cause for the delay. Where a promoter appeals against an order requiring payment, the Act requires the amount to be deposited before the appeal is heard, in the proportion the statute prescribes.

From an order of the Appellate Tribunal an appeal lies to the High Court within the period the Act provides, on the grounds it specifies. Where an order is assailed as wholly without jurisdiction or in breach of natural justice, the writ jurisdiction may be invoked, subject to the rule requiring the statutory remedy to be exhausted first — see the note on the writ jurisdiction of the High Court for the State of Telangana.

Related

Real estate regulation — areas of practice