Greeva Garg–
Supreme Court of India has provided a major relief to second-hand homebuyers same as the original allottees.
Supreme Court stated that the builder cannot deny their right of possession on the apartment within a reasonable time and the second-hand buyers are also entitled to a refund of money.
The bench comprising of Justice UU Lalit, Justice Hemant Gupta and Justice S Ravindra Bhat observed in a hearing of a plea that, “It cannot be said that a subsequent purchaser who steps into the shoes of an original allottee of a housing project in which the builder has not honoured its commitment to deliver the flat within a stipulated time, cannot expect any — even reasonable time — for the performance of the builder’s obligation.”
The plea was filed by a real estate company, Laureate Buildwell Pvt Ltd against the National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission (NCDRC) order, concerning the delay of handing over the possession to the second-hand homebuyers and directing the company to make refunds to the concerned buyers.
The Court issued an order against the Laureate company, which is further challenged in the Supreme Court, submitting that the paid cannot be refunded because the second-hand purchaser is not the original allottee.
The bench said, “The purchaser agrees to buy a flat with a reasonable expectation that delivery of possession would be in accordance within the bounds of the delayed timeline that he knows of, at the time of purchase of the flat. Therefore, in the event, the purchaser claims a refund, on an assessment that he too can (like the original allottee) no longer wait and face intolerable burdens, the equities would have to be moulded. It would no doubt be fair to assume that the purchaser knew about the delay. However, to attribute knowledge that such delay would continue indefinitely, based on a prior assumption, would not be justified.”
