Appeal No. 64 of 2020

What the appeal concerns

The Tamil Nadu Real Estate Appellate Tribunal considered a promoter's appeal against the Adjudicating Officer's order in C.C.P. No. 257 of 2019, dated 1 September 2020. That order directed M/s. Alliance Villa Private Limited to refund the sale consideration paid by Mohana Sundhari and Nagalingam, with interest and costs.

The dispute concerned a villa in the Humming Garden project at Thaiyur, Kelambakkam, Chennai. The agreed total price was Rs.1,34,24,731, and the homebuyers paid Rs.16,00,000.

Positions of the parties

The homebuyers told the Tamil Nadu Real Estate Appellate Tribunal that:

• The promoter did not give them copies of the sale agreement and title deeds when the agreement was entered into.
• No construction had been carried out at the allotted site before they filed their complaint.
• Financial difficulties led them to request cancellation and a refund by email.
• The promoter responded that 10 percent of the villa's value would be deducted.

M/s. Alliance Villa Private Limited argued that:

• The requirements for refund under Section 18(1) of the Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act, 2016 were not met.
• The homebuyers had agreed to forfeiture of the booking amount upon cancellation.
• More than 81.25 percent of the villa had been completed by the complaint date.
• The Adjudicating Officer exceeded the jurisdiction available for deciding compensation.

Tribunal's analysis in the supplied text

The Tamil Nadu Real Estate Appellate Tribunal recorded that the agreements dated 25 January 2019 required stage based payments rather than payments on specified dates. It found that the absence of payment dates was not fatal because the homebuyers had accepted and signed the schedules.

The Tribunal also rejected the Adjudicating Officer's reasoning that the absence of a further payment demand showed that construction had not taken place. The construction agreement referred to stage intimation letters and required payment without a further demand.

The Tribunal calculated that Rs.47,58,441 was payable by the agreement date under the two schedules, while the homebuyers had paid Rs.16,00,000. It also reproduced their email dated 10 April 2019, which requested cancellation because of a major money problem. The supplied text does not include the Tribunal's final ruling on whether the promoter's appeal was allowed or dismissed.