New Delhi (22.05.2021): The second wave of COVID-19 has accentuated the suffering of homebuyers as their lifetime savings get further stuck in undelivered projects. Readers may recall the pre-COVID 0.2 pandemic Indianmandarins stories that narrated the painful stories of homebuyers waging a seemingly endless battle in courts, consumer forums, and RERA for receiving the delivery of their housing units or at least refund of their money invested to get a roof over their head. 

Even as their attempts at getting substantial relief from the courts dragged on because of the chronic delay ingrained in the country's legal system, the Coronavirus pandemic and its second wave put a spoke in the slow-moving wheels of judicial justice, thus making homebuyers more despondent and helpless. 

As in March 2020 and onwards, the second Coronovirus wave has provided real estate developers with another escape route to skip their commitments to consumers. Among others, developers in Uttar Pradesh have submitted a representation before UP-RERA, asking for a six-month time extension (which in effect means a one-year delay as a six-month extension was offered during the first wave) to complete the projects, submit various returns and documents, and comply with various orders issued by the authority.

If developers do manage to get the requested extension, homebuyers may find themselves driven to a state of unavoidable bankruptcy as no relief in terms of loan and interest moratoriums and waivers has yet been announced for them. That's because most of the homebuyers may have to continue to pay rents of their existing accommodations as well EMIs on their home loans for additional months. They will also forfeit deduction on interest payments on the home loans that they would have claimed if they had received possession of their units earlier. What’s worse, developers will not be liable to pay any interest penalties for the delay to homebuyers during this extended period.

Regulatory authorities need to wake up and take cognizance of the fact that builders have, by and large, been lackadaisical in abiding by RERA orders whether it is for project delivery or refund by way of recovery certificates (RCs). Further, unlike the first wave, developers are expected to be better prepared for lockdown and manage their liabilities towards their consumers. Also, there is no ban on construction activities if labour is available onsite, this time around.

So, it would be in the fitness of things for the authorities to deny prolonged benefit or protection to developers in the name of timeline extensions for delivery or refunds.

Another vital point that the government and regulatory authorities need to take into account is that any further extension to builders tantamounts to denying justice to homebuyers by leaving them in the lurch.

The daily casualty count of COVID also includes numerous homebuyers who lost their battle against the contagion and left the world without getting their house delivered or a penny recovered against the RCs issued in their favour. And, as the national healthcare emergency rages unabated, several other homebuyers are fighting a grim battle against coronavirus. 

The need of the hour is a policy decision on the part of regulatory authorities to dispense justice to hapless real estate consumers while they are still alive. Otherwise, the looming healthcare and financial crisis will only wreak further havoc in homes across the country. As an interim measure, the government will do well to announce emergency relief measures for homebuyers in the form of some fixed monthly payments to be borne by the defaulting builders on an immediate basis that will help mitigate COVID pains and dissipate clouds of fear and uncertainty hovering menacingly over the lives of people. 

(By Vishal Duggal)