7.3 Real-World Transaction Scenarios & Exam Review

7.3 Real-World Transaction Scenarios & Exam Review

Quick Summary: Read a scenario in stages: identify the person and project, check the legal obligation and its boundary, then calculate using stated dates, amounts and contractual assumptions. A mathematically correct answer can still apply the wrong rule.

1. Delay Interest and Refund under Section 18

Scenario: An allottee signs a registered agreement on 15 January 2022 for an INR 1 crore apartment. INR 40 lakh has been paid before the promised possession date of 31 December 2024. The promoter fails to hand over by that date. For this illustration only, assume the applicable SBI highest MCLR is 8.5% and remains constant; this is not a statement of today’s market rate. Delay begins 1 January 2025.

Maharashtra Rule 18 specifies SBI highest MCLR plus two percentage points:

$$8.5\%+2\text{ percentage points}=10.5\%\text{ a year}$$

For an allottee who continues in the project, Section 18 provides interest for every month of delay until possession. Assume the full INR 40 lakh remains the applicable paid balance throughout a complete month and the exercise uses annual interest divided by 12:

$$40{,}00{,}000\times10.5\%=\text{INR }4{,}20{,}000\text{ annual equivalent}$$ $$4{,}20{,}000/12=\text{INR }35{,}000\text{ for the illustrated full month}$$

This arithmetic assumes that monthly method; Rule 18 alone supplies the rate, not a universal simple/compound or partial-month day-count convention. If the paid balance changes or only part of a month is involved, state the applicable calculation method and dates before computing.

An eligible allottee who withdraws may seek refund of amounts paid with applicable interest and compensation as provided by the Act. When computing a refund claim from separate instalments, use each actual receipt date and the relevant repayment date. The scenario lacks those individual dates, so it does not invent a cumulative interest total. Compensation depends on the applicable adjudication; it is not an automatic extra amount calculated from the interest rate.

2. Carpet-Area Variation and Defect Liability

Scenario: The agreement states 100 sq. metres at an agreed INR 2,00,000 per sq. metre, giving INR 2 crore. After completion and grant of the occupancy certificate, final carpet area is confirmed at 98 sq. metres. This is a 2% reduction, within the Maharashtra model agreement’s 3% variation cap. Assume the buyer has already paid for the full original area.

$$\text{Reduction}=100-98=2\text{ sq. metres}$$ $$\text{Excess Price Paid}=2\times2{,}00{,}000=\text{INR }4{,}00{,}000$$

Clause 1(g) of the model agreement calls for recalculation at the same agreed unit rate. It states that a reduction within the cap requires refund of excess money within 45 days, with annual interest at the rule-prescribed rate from the date the excess amount was paid. Interest is not limited to the period after missing the refund deadline. These are clause 1(g)’s model terms. Separately, Maharashtra Rule 19 requires a refund payable under the Act, Rules or Regulations, with applicable interest and compensation if any, within 30 days from when it becomes due and payable. Do not use the model’s 45-day wording as a blanket extension of a mandatory refund deadline: identify the applicable obligation and due date, read the executed agreement alongside the governing rule, and establish the remedy where a variation exceeds the cap. Section 2(k) defines carpet area; it does not, by itself, fix a price per square metre for every transaction.

Under Section 14(3), a structural defect or defect in workmanship, quality, services, or the promoter’s relevant agreement obligations, brought to the promoter’s notice within five years from handing over possession, must be rectified within 30 days without further charge. Failure gives the aggrieved allottee the compensation remedy provided by the Act. Do not treat every later leak or ordinary wear as a proven covered defect without establishing its cause and the applicable obligation.

3. Misrepresentation, Agent Liability and Conciliation

Scenario: An agent facilitates sales in a phase legally required to be registered but not registered, using an edited number from another phase. Five proposed buyers each supply an INR 2 lakh advance cheque: 5 × INR 2 lakh = INR 10 lakh in proposed advances. This does not establish the total property cost or the maximum penalty.

• Verify whether the phase has its own required registration. Marketing a required-but-unregistered phase breaches the relevant Section 10(a) duty; false registration representations also engage the relevant unfair-trade-practice duty.
• Section 62: INR 10,000 for each day of failure to comply with Section 9 or 10, cumulatively up to 5% of the cost of the property whose sale or purchase was facilitated. Do not substitute the token advances for that statutory cost base.
• Registration suspension or revocation and any separate wrongdoing follow their applicable grounds and process. Do not present automatic cancellation or an automatic criminal sentence as the mathematical result of this scenario.

Conciliation Is a Consensual Promoter–Allottee Route

MahaRERA’s published guidance describes an allottee submitting a conciliation request, the promoter accepting, payment and assignment to a bench, then discussion with impartial assistance. The forum includes consumer and promoter-association representatives. The described forum admits promoter–allottee disputes within RERA’s purview; it is not automatically the route for every dispute solely against an agent.

If the parties agree, they sign settlement terms, which are final and binding once signed by all parties and authenticated as described. A failure to comply allows the other party to approach MahaRERA. Do not invent a guaranteed 60-day adjudication or imply that a unilateral request is already an imposed settlement.

4. Core Rules with Their Boundaries

5. Revision Strategy

• Distinguish a rental tenant from a leasehold purchaser and covered parking from open parking.
• Understand the 70% deposit and controlled withdrawals. The remaining 30% is not automatically freely available profit. Current MahaRERA model documentation identifies designated collection, separate and transaction accounts.
• Establish whether a project is required to register before applying the agent’s registration-related duty. Exempt projects are not converted into required projects by the fact that an agent is involved.
• Use the correct statutory trigger: INR 20,000 is not permitted cash; INR 50 lakh is reached at equality for the relevant TDS value tests; the 10% advance test operates before the registered agreement.
• Use the applicable stamp-duty value, instrument, jurisdiction, transaction date and concession. Do not assume one universal 6% or 7% charge for all Maharashtra cities and buyers.
• Practise factual and scenario questions across the listed official syllabus. The chart below is an author’s example allocation of revision time, not published examination-domain weights or a prediction of question counts.

Primary sources: Current RERA Act, Sections 4, 10, 13, 14, 18 and 62; Maharashtra model agreement, clause 1(g); MahaRERA conciliation guidance; model allotment letter; current tax and FIU sources cited in Section 7.2.