CONSUMER EDUCATION AND RESEARCH

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Press Release
Housing consumers face many problems even with well-known builders
like Godrej Properties
17 December 2021
A lot of issues are being faced by consumers in the housing sector. These include non-allotment of the
property despite full payment, non-refund of money on cancellation of booking, non-reversal of
arbitrary maintenance charges levied before possession, and non-delivery of amenities promised in the
booking documents among others.

Residents of the Orchard cluster in Godrej Garden City are facing several issues because the builder
has not transferred the bills and invoices to the society, nor has the society received the audit financial
statements. The society is also facing problems because of the improper installation of sewage
treatment plant. Multiple complaints by the residents have not elicited any response from Godrej. The
society has, as a cluster approached Consumer Education and Research Centre (CERC) for
intervention and CERC has issued a legal notice to Godrej Properties Ltd. on behalf of residents of the
society.

In another case, Manoj Dave booked a flat in Godrej Garden City and paid Rs. 6,34,958.
Unfortunately, because of the pandemic, he lost his job. So he decided to cancel the booking of the flat
and requested Godrej Properties Ltd. to refund the money paid by him. Although his booking was
cancelled and his EMIs were stopped, he did not receive refund of the amount paid including the
booking amount. Another consumer, Amisha Shah booked a flat with Godrej Properties Ltd. by paying
Rs. 50,000 booking amount. When her loan was not being sanctioned by the bank, she requested
cancellation of the booking and refund. A similar situation was faced by Sania Bhatt who paid Rs.
3,72,000 for booking a flat at Takshshila Elegna but since her loan was not being sanctioned she
cancelled her booking.

All these consumers approached CERC for intervention in their matter. CERC was able to successfully
persuade the builders in each matter to amicably resolve the issue.

Meghavi Joshi, Deputy Manager – Mediation and Counselling - CERC said, “Despite the fact that
Gujarat Government has established Gujarat Real Estate Regulatory Authority (GUJRERA) for
regulating the real estate sector in the state and providing speedy grievance redressal mechanism for
complaints relating to the housing sector, consumers continue to face problems and harassment by
builders /property developers. Perhaps many consumers are not aware of GUJRERA and so they do
not approach it for grievance resolution. CERC has been receiving many consumer complaints against
builders, some are even group complaints. We focus on getting resolution for consumers through our
mediation efforts and if that fails, we represent consumers in the consumer forum.”

*Names of the consumers have been changed to protect their identity.

For more information, please contact Meghavi Joshi -9427074246