RERA registration and buyer complaints
The Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act 2016 requires most
residential and commercial projects above a certain size to be registered
with the state Real Estate Regulatory Authority before units are sold, and
sets out disclosure obligations about project timelines and specifications.
A developer that sells before registration, or that materially deviates from
the disclosed timeline, exposes itself to buyer complaints before the
authority, which can order refunds with interest or compensation for delay.
Delayed possession is the single most common complaint RERA authorities
handle, and the developer’s exposure is generally set by the terms of the
allotment agreement, which is why that agreement needs to be drafted
carefully rather than adapted from a template used for an earlier project.
Title and acquisition risk
Title disputes in India are frequently rooted in inheritance, older
partition arrangements, or unregistered agreements that surface only once a
buyer or developer has already committed significant capital. A proper title
investigation, tracing the chain of ownership and checking for encumbrances
and pending litigation, is the standard safeguard, but it needs to be done
before acquisition, not after a dispute has already been filed. Where land
has been acquired for infrastructure purposes, separate questions arise
around the adequacy of compensation and the process followed, which can
themselves become the subject of litigation.
Development and joint development agreements
Joint development agreements, under which a landowner contributes land and
a developer contributes construction and marketing in exchange for a share of
the built area or revenue, are a common structure and a common source of
dispute when they do not clearly address delay, cost overruns, or what
happens if either party wants to exit. These agreements benefit from
provisions that anticipate disagreement rather than assuming the relationship
will run smoothly for the years a large project typically takes.
Construction disputes and arbitration
Construction and EPC contracts routinely end up in arbitration under the
Arbitration and Conciliation Act 1996, usually over delay, defects, or
valuation of variations to the original scope of work. The contract’s
provisions on extension of time, liquidated damages, and the defects
liability period tend to determine the outcome more than any argument made
after the dispute arises, which makes their drafting, at the outset, the
point at which most future disputes are either prevented or made inevitable.
