Builder promised 5,069 sq ft, delivered 3,900; RERA orders refund, Rs 98 lakh penalty

You give down payment for a home, but at the time of the sale agreement you realise that the builder did not deliver on the promised area that was advertised. What happens then? A recent Telangana RERA ruling holds significance for its refund order and penalty on the builder.The case is of a homebuyer who was promised a 5,068.96 sq. ft. villa, but the sale agreement mentioned one that measured only 3,900 sq. ft. The Telangana RERA has come to the aid of the homebuyer in a recent ruling, holding that a builder cannot advertise a villa as having a certain saleable area and then deliver a villa measuring less by treating the remaining as the plot’s "setback area".The authority observed that representing the property in this manner amounted to a serious misrepresentation of one of its key features, since buyers had paid for what they understood to be a…