Uniform builder-buyer agreement required, says Supreme Court

On Monday, Supreme Court issued a notice seeking framing of a Builder-Buyer Agreement model in the real estate sector as conceived under Real Estate Regulatory Authority (RERA). According to the court, it would protect and help home/flat buyers from being exploited and mistreated by the builder.

The Supreme Court said, “To protect the interests of lakhs of home  buyers, it is required that Centre has to be framed a uniform  builder-buyer agreement.” As per Section 42A of RERA, the Centre is empowered to look into and frame rules on matters of implementation of policy.

Further, a bench of Justice DY Chandrachud said, “This is an important issue on the protection of buyers, often put on the back foot by clauses in agreements made by builders”. Justice Chandrachud said that once  the model builder-buyer agreement is framed by the Centre, SC would  direct the states to follow it.

The petition filed by Ashwini Kumar Upadhyay stated, “Even today, not a single State has framed 'Model Builder Buyer Agreement', 'Model Agent Buyer Agreement' to infuse transparency, ensure fair-play, reduce frauds and deliberate delays, restrain builders promoters and agents from indulging into arbitrary unfair and restrictive trade practices and to protect the rights and interests of customers, in a spirit of aims and objects of RERA Act 2016 and Articles 14, 15, 21,"

CitySpidey talked to Lawyer Anish Agarwal said, “Model will be helpful for the residents. RERA operating differently in different parts of the country. RERA in Maharastra is very different, it is vibrant. The ways it’s operating in Uttar Pradesh is completely different. The model will be better because there are different types of provisions in different parts of the country, the act is the same but underlines rules are different. It will be more difficult to influence a specific interest group.”

Manish Kumar, Senior Vice President, Noida Extension Flat Owners Welfare Association (NEFOWA), said, “The model should cover the Fastrack court to solve the problem of the buyers and after the hearing, the order should come soon as soon as possible. RERA issued the order but RERA has to write a letter to the district administration to ensure that the work has been done. In this model, RERA should have more judicial power and one more thing that the if any project is in under construction, so the booking has to be started after the completion of 30% work.”