Standard-Form Agreement For Sale Cannot Waive Homebuyers' Right To Delay Interest: Karnataka RERA

The Karnataka Real Estate Regulatory Authority (K-RERA) has held that homebuyers do not lose their statutory right to compensation for delayed possession merely because they signed a standard-form Agreement for Sale.

It found that such contractual terms cannot defeat statutory protection where buyers had no real or effective opportunity to negotiate or alter them.

Chairman Rakesh Singh observed that "the Allottees, having entered into a standard-form Agreement for Sale prepared by the Promoter, cannot be presumed to have voluntarily waived or surrendered their statutory rights merely by signing the said Agreement. The fact that such a clause was incorporated as part of the standard contractual terms, without any real or effective opportunity for the Allottees to negotiate or alter the same, cannot operate to defeat the statutory protection afforded to them under the RERA Act."

The ruling came while allowing a complaint filed by Satyendra Kumar Singh and Sonika Kumari Singh against Bharathiya Urban Private Limited over delayed possession of Flat C-1204 in Nikoo Homes IV, Chokkanahalli Village, Yelahanka, Bengaluru Urban.

The Agreement for Sale was executed on July 11, 2022, for ₹1,03,97,884. The buyers had paid ₹10,18,448 as advance, while possession was assured on or before July 31, 2025. The order records that possession had not been handed over by the agreed date and remained pending by the end of November 2025.

The complaint was later filed for possession. During the proceedings, Bharathiya Urban informed K-RERA that possession was eventually handed over in January 2026.

The developer maintained that construction had been completed in April 2025 and that, after obtaining the Fire NOC, it applied to BBMP for an Occupancy Certificate on June 3, 2025. It attributed the delay to ground-rent issues, the reconstitution of BBMP under the GBA and other circumstances beyond its control.

Bharathiya Urban also relied on the force majeure clause in the Agreement for Sale, which covered delays in obtaining government approvals, sanctions, or permissions.

K-RERA rejected the defence. It held that an extension of project registration under Section 6 does not extinguish the allottee's statutory right to compensation under Section 18.

The authority further held that force majeure could not be invoked as a blanket defence where delay was attributable, wholly or partly, to the promoter's acts, omissions, deviations, or non-compliances.

RERA found that obtaining the Occupancy Certificate within the stipulated timeline was the promoter's obligation. It also noted that the Bengaluru North City Corporation issued the certificate after imposing a compounding fee following a deviation in construction.

The authority consequently found that the delay was attributable to promoter-caused deviations and alterations, rather than a force majeure event.

It further referred to Section 14, which restricts a promoter from making additions or alterations to the sanctioned plan, layout plan and agreed specifications without the required allottee consent.

The authority directed Bharathiya Urban to pay ₹4,95,468 as delay-period interest, calculated at SBI MCLR plus 2% for July 31, 2025, to January 17, 2026, within 60 days.

For Complainants (Satyendra Kumar Singh & Sonika Kumari Singh): In person.

For Respondent (Bharathiya Urban Private Limited): Advocates Arjun & another.