Flat Buyers Must Be Protected By New Laws: Experts
Legal experts have opined that home owners and flat buyers need more legal protection. This verdict has come about following some of the recent problems innocent flat buyers have gone through. One such example is the recent Campa Cola case. Lawyers and legal experts say that the present laws do not protect flat buyers sufficiently and laws should be modified.
Some existing laws
1. Under the MOFA (Maharashtra Ownership of Flats) Act, a developer cannot sign a sale deal unless the building plans are sanctioned. This leads to the assumption among flat buyers that all provisions will be in place once the plan is sanctioned. In cases such as Campa Cola, flat owners said that sales agreement mentioned that plans were pending approval and hence they assumed that sanctions were inevitable.
2. MOFA also does not allow regularization of an illegal structure whose plan is not sanctioned. It only provides for damages in cases of breach of contract, for refund or another flat. In the case of Campa Cola, the building plans were not sanctioned. Hence, flat buyers were not entitled for regularization. The Supreme Court had said that the buyers had consciously bought illegally constructed flats and as such, they would lose their flats after demolition. The only remedy was to sue the lesse and developer for damages or returning the money.
3. Also, under the current law, Campa Cola society does not have rights to redevelop the plot. Hence, seeking permission to construct another building on the plot is not possible.
Intended amendments
With these given conditions, innocent customers paid for mistakes committed due to their innocence. Experts stress the necessity of a regulatory mechanism to ensure that the developer does not sell a property until all the statutory permissions were in place. It is also necessary to make sure that the rights are transferred to the housing society when there is a breach of law by the builder.
Transfer of title to the housing society when there is a breach in MOFA by the developer helps them utilize the rights accordingly. For example, with the rights to redevelop the plot, the housing society can seek permission to construct another building on the plot. Also, with an amended sanction plan, they can get an order for construction using the unutilized FSI on the land.
