FPCE writes to consumer affairs secy, seeks realty-specific guidelines for homebuyers' interest

PTI New Delhi: Homebuyers' association FPCE has written to consumer affairs ministry to frame specific guidelines for the Indian real estate sector to curb unfair trade practices and protect consumers' interest. Forum For People's Collective Efforts (FPCE) President Abhay Upadhyay has written a letter to Consumer Affairs Secretary Nidhi Khare, requesting her to issue "real estate sector specific guidelines under Consumer Protection Act 2019 to curb the malpractices prevalent in the sector and to save the consumers of the sector from being duped and cheated by developers." The association pointed out that the consumer forums constituted under Consumer Protection Act 2019 comprises about 10 per cent of their complaints from the consumers of real estate sector.

As per the government statement in the Lok Sabha, more than 50,000 such complaints are pending before consumer forums as on July 31, 2024. In terms of value of such cases, it will be more than 10 per cent since transactions in the real estate sector are of very high value. "We are writing to bring to your kind notice that real estate developers are continuing with their malpractices which are in blatant violation of the provisions of Consumer Protection Act 2019. We are highlighting some of the malpractices which needs to be eradicated at all costs to save the homebuyers," Upadhyay said. Listing out some of the malpractices in the realty sector, Upadhyay said there is lot of misleading advertisements to lure customers. "They (developers) come out with such an attractive pictorial representation of their projects which in reality bears no resemblance with the actual project," he said. In advertisements, builders promise many facilities and amenities in their projects. However, in many cases, homebuyers do not find those amenities while taking possession of their properties, the association said. "It is also to be noted with due concern that the project completion deadline is not adhered to and is infinitely extended at the cost of the homebuyers," Upadhyay said.

The information which a homebuyer gets from the website of the builder or from the brochure downloaded from the website of the builder should be considered as an advertisement and mere disclaimer at the bottom of the brochure/website stating that they do not form part ofthe sale docments has to be outrightly rejected, the president suggested.