How to File A Complaint In RERA Matter?

RERA guidelines has recommended establishing a separate tribunal specifically for real estate matters of the state. The states that implemented the guidelines are showing quite a satisfactory speed in passing an order in RERA disputes, which are filed in the prescribed matter, providing enough evidence.

What is a RERA Complaint?

Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act, 2016 (RERA Act) came into force from 01st May 2017, and it took all the real estate matters under its control including - planning, advertisement, selling, delivery, quality, builder activities etc.

Sec. 31 of the Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act provides that a person who has a complaint against a builder, agent or developer can approach the tribunal or the adjudicating officer following the procedure prescribed by the Act.

The Centre has recommended the RERA guidelines, but this is a matter under the control of the State Legislature, therefore, the states have made their laws in real estate matters, in compliance with the recommendation of the State.

How to file a complaint Under RERA?

As the RERA regulations are subject to the State Legislature, every state has formulated its ways to file the RERA complaints. Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra have shown quite good and steady growth in RERA implementation and providing a quick solution. In most of the states, the complaint is first filed on the RERA official website of the state, and the complainant can track the matter online whether any notice is issued, or the date of hearing is scheduled. On the dates, as required the complainant can represent the case through his or her lawyer or be present there physically.

The steps to file a RERA complaint:

Step One: You can first reconcile the matter before taking it to the tribunal. You can discuss the matter with your lawyer and send a legal notice to the builder. Usually, a period of 30 days is provided to reply to the legal notice, and wait till the expiry of the time for an answer from the builder side.

In case the builder replies with a date for discussion and reconciliation, you can attend the meeting with the builder to discuss and reach a solution for the same. The solution shall be a formal written one, signed by both the parties, confirmed by the signatures of the witnesses, and certified by the signature of the arbitrator or mediator if any.

If there is no reply or an unsatisfactory attitude is shown by the builder, you can proceed towards the next step of filing the complaint.

Step Two: Depending on the state regulations, you have to file the complaint either online or offline. For the online procedure, you just require to fill the columns and attach the relevant documents and submit them. Make sure the scanned copies of the documents are clear enough to read.

For online procedures, the petition has to be written clearly and unambiguously mentioning all the relevant details viz., - names of the parties, registration number and address of the project, a concise statement of facts and grounds of the claim and the relief sought.

Step Three: Once filed, wait for the response from the tribunal. If some more documents or recordings are required, the tribunal shall notify you to submit those within a specified and reasonable time. If you require some more time, through an application you can ask for an extension, which is usually granted.

If the application of the RERA complaint has all the details in satisfaction of the tribunal, it sends a notice to the defendant with a specified time to submit the reply.

Step Four: The defendant submits a reply, known as a written statement or written application in Court language, clarifying his or her side. On receiving the same, the Court assigns a hearing date, on which the matter is taken up for discussion.

On receiving the notice from the RERA tribunal, the defendant has to reply to himself or through his agent. Ignoring or not replying may lead to an ex-parte order, which means the Court will hear only one side, i.e. the complainant, and pass an order.

Step Five: On the hearing date, the parties have to appear themselves or through their lawyers, to argue on the matter. It is recommended to go foolproof on this date because RERA tribunals are known for their speedy disposal of cases. On several events, the tribunal passes an order in one hearing.

After the hearing, the court takes the points of argument and evidence into account and passes an order, which is also available online if passed. For the offline procedure, the lawyer can take care of the same.

Starting from the filing of a complaint to passing an order in the RERA tribunal, everything is made tech-savvy, and easy, to ensure, that no extra burden is imposed on the complainant, who is already facing an issue in a property matter.