CRDA must pay interest to allottees on failure to provide possession of flats – APRERA

VIJAYWADA: The Andhra Pradesh Capital Region Development Authority (APCRDA) has been ordered by the Andhra Pradesh Real Estate Regulatory Authority (APRERA) to pay interest on the money paid by the flat allottees in the Happy Nest project because possession of the flats was not provided as per the contract.

The interest must be paid by APCRDA from June 30, 2022, until the allottees receive their apartments. The interest rate was decided as the Prime Lending Rate of State Bank of India + 2%.

The Happy Nest project, to construct luxurious apartments in Amaravati, was announced by the APCRDA in 2018. The apartments were offered for sale online. The APCRDA announced the second phase of Happy Nest as soon as the apartments were sold out, and a total of 1,200 apartments were sold.

The project has been put on hold along with the Amaravati project since the YSRC government came to power. However, the APCRDA was required to deliver the apartments to the allottees by December 2021. Some of the allottees demanded an explanation and even filed a complaint with the APRERA because the construction of the Happy Nest apartments was not completed within the time limit.

Together with 11 other people, Maddineni Venkata Sai Babu filed separate complaints with APRERA against APCRDA. Karumanchi Indraneel Babu made the claim on behalf of the complainants, claiming that the APCRDA had broken its promise to finish the project by the predetermined date. In accordance with section 18 of the RERA Act, the complainants requested interest be applied to the amount paid. They have also demanded Rs 20 lakh in compensation for mental agony.

However, Kasa Jagan Mohan Reddy argued that RERA had extended the registration deadline in the suo moto actions it had taken.

He argued that APCRDA could not be used twice on the same project. In addition, he said that all parties, including APCRDA, had no control over bidders’ refusal to accept projects due to Covid-19. 

The APRERA determined that the complainants are entitled to interest on the amount paid after observing that the APCRDA failed to complete the project within the deadline despite taking into account the additional six months granted because of Covid-19.

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