Builder delay or flat not handed over: your options under RERA

Step by step

1. 1

   Confirm the project's registration and promised date

   Small projects are exempt: the Act does not require registration where the land is 500 square metres or less, or where there are 8 flats or fewer, counting all phases. Bigger projects must be registered before they are advertised or sold. Search for your project on the Uttarakhand RERA site to see its registration number, promoter details and the registered date for handing over possession.

   Can't find your project on the site? That does not mean you have no remedy. A project that should have been registered and wasn't is itself a breach, and you can still complain to the Authority. Uttarakhand RERA has a separate option on its site for reporting an unregistered project.

   ukrera.uk.gov.in ↗Not working?
2. 2

   Write to the builder

   Refer to your agreement and the delay. Ask for a firm handover date, or say you want to withdraw from the project and be refunded.

   Keep your letter and any reply. This matters if you later file a complaint.

3. 3

   Decide: wait with interest, or withdraw for a refund

   Under section 18 of the Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act, 2016, if the builder doesn't hand over possession by the date in your agreement, you choose.

   You can withdraw and get back what you paid, with interest and compensation.

   Or you can stay in the project and be paid interest for every month of delay until you get possession. The interest rate is set by the state's RERA rules.

4. 4

   File a complaint with Uttarakhand RERA

   File online with your builder-buyer agreement, payment receipts, the project registration number, and your correspondence with the builder.

   The complaint filing fee is ₹1,000, payable by demand draft, banker's cheque, or online payment, under Rule 34 of the Uttarakhand Real Estate (Regulation and Development) (General) Rules, 2017.

   If you also want compensation on top of a refund or the delay interest, that is a separate complaint, in Form N, to the Authority's Adjudicating Officer, with its own ₹1,000 fee, under Rule 35. You can file both.

   ukrera.uk.gov.in ↗Not working?

What happens next

The Authority gives the builder a chance to reply before it decides your complaint. It aims to decide within 60 days of getting your complaint, and to record its reasons in writing if it takes longer. It can order a refund with interest, or interest for every month of the delay.

Keep your project registration number and complaint number together, and follow up through the portal.

If you disagree with the decision, you can appeal to the Uttarakhand Real Estate Appellate Tribunal. You have 60 days from the day you receive the order, so do not sit on it.

Watch out

• The only fee for a RERA complaint is the one paid on the official portal when you file. Anyone else asking for money to 'speed up' or guarantee your complaint is not acting for the Authority.
• A builder blaming a delay on reasons outside your agreement doesn't automatically excuse it. Let the Authority decide that.