K-RERA warns developers for not meeting project completion deadlines

Real estate developers in Bengaluru have completed only 51 out of 424 housing projects even after the deadline was extended. The Karnataka Real Estate Regulatory Authority (K-RERA) has planned to take action against defaulting developers. According to the developers, the pandemic was the main reason for the delay, due to which the deadline was extended further by another six months. K-RERA had extended the deadline for the apartment projects from April to 30 September as a relief to the real estate sector after being affected by the Covid-19 pandemic. According to data, only some projects were completed within the extended deadline. K-RERA officials said that they would wait for a month before acting against the defaulting developers. H C Kishore Chandra, Chairman of K-RERA, said that the developer would have to face legal actions if they fail to deliver the apartments to the customers within the deadline. If a developer fails to deliver a project within the deadline mentioned in the sale agreement, he will have to pay 9% interest on the apartment value for the delayed period apart from the compensation fixed by K-RERA. It is the third extended deadline given to the developers after getting hit by the Covid-19 pandemic. K-RERA initially extended the deadline by six months from 15 March 2020 and then extended it by another three months. Total 525 out of 4,378 approved projects were not completed within the deadline, while the deadline was extended for 241 projects due to the Covid-19 pandemic. While 284 applications seeking extension are still under process, the completion date has expired for 976 projects. M S Shankar, general secretary of Forum for People's Collective Efforts, said that homebuyers would have to wait for more for the possession but should continue to repay the home loans. But the developers argue that the extension was not beneficial because it was non-uniform towards all the projects. Image Source