News: KRERA Orders Total Environment to Pay Rs 70 Lakh for Delay-23-04-2026

A developer cannot blame a change of ownership for failing to deliver on time, the Karnataka Real Estate Regulatory Authority (KRERA) has held, directing Total Environment to execute the sale deed and pay nearly Rs 70 lakh as compensation to buyers of a luxury villa in north Bengaluru delivered two years late.

The villa is in the ’After the Rain Phase 1’ project and has a saleable area of 3,090 sq ft and carpet area of 2,475 sq ft. The original owners signed a sale-and-construction agreement on July 2, 2014 and paid over Rs 3.21 crore. Eight years later they sold it for Rs 4.77 crore to the present complainants through an assignment deed executed in October 2022 with the developer’s consent.

The buyers told KRERA that under the agreement and assignment terms, the developer had to finish construction, obtain the Occupancy Certificate (OC) and hand over possession by May 31, 2023. They said the timeline was instead pushed repeatedly, to September 2023-December 2023, March 2024, June 2024 and November 2024, on false assurances that the villa was nearly ready. Photographs showed construction was still incomplete in January 2025, they said. They approached the authority last year.

The developer argued that the delay arose from the ownership transfer process and the buyers’ failure to pay the final instalment. It also cited customisation work sought by the buyers and said only ’minor works’ remained.

KRERA rejected this. Its order said the contention that construction halted because of the resale cannot be a valid ground, since the promoter must ensure continuity of construction irrespective of a change in allottees. It called it a settled position that transfer or assignment of a unit does not absolve the promoter of the obligation to complete the project within the agreed timeline.

The authority found the delay was mainly the developer’s responsibility, though the complainants contributed slightly by not paying the balance on time.

It directed the developer to pay delay period interest on the consideration amount of Rs 3.3 crore at SBI MCLR+2% from May 2023 till July 2025, when possession was offered, for Villa/Unit No.0114 (Villa No.84 as per the BDA sanctioned building plan). Physical possession is to be handed over on receipt of the balance sale consideration.

A list of questions has been sent to the developer.