MahaRERA Refund Orders Hard to Enforce: What It Means for Buyers in Mumbai and Maharashtra

What happened?

Mid-Day reported on homebuyers across Maharashtra who are stuck in delayed projects. Many keep paying home loan EMIs on flats they cannot move into, and they pay rent for somewhere else to live at the same time. According to the paper, even buyers who have already obtained a refund order from the state regulator say the money has not reached them.

Mid-Day said the main hold-up comes after the order is passed. A MahaRERA official told the paper that a buyer can file a non-compliance plea if the developer ignores the order. An adjudicating officer can then issue a recovery warrant and send it to the collector's office. Buyers quoted by Mid-Day said the warrant is then in the hands of district collectorates and tehsildars, and that frequent transfers of officials and weak follow-up slow it down. Auctions of developer property have also not produced payments, they said.

The report adds that a developer's insolvency case before the NCLT makes things harder, since a moratorium can restrict individual recovery depending on the process. Mid-Day described one buyer who put in R6 lakh in 2016 and now pays Rs 35000 a month in rent, and another who got a MahaRERA order in October 2022 but has seen no recovery. A buyers' forum leader asked MahaRERA to publish the number and total value of its refund orders before claiming a 45 per cent recovery rate.

Which sectors are affected?

• Mumbai homebuyers in stalled projects
• Maharashtra homebuyers holding MahaRERA refund orders
• Buyers with active home loans on unfinished flats
• Tenants who rent while waiting for possession
• Developers facing NCLT insolvency proceedings

Potential impact

This is a report on how enforcement is working, not a change in policy, so it does not point to a direct move in prices. What it does show is that the risk in a delayed project does not end when a buyer wins an order. Money can stay locked for years, and the cost of waiting, in EMIs, rent and legal fees, keeps building up.

The likelier effect is on how careful buyers become. Where a developer has a record of delays, buyers may prefer completed or near-complete homes, and they may want to see a clean track record before paying. That could narrow demand for under-construction launches from weaker developers. Our data puts Mumbai at about Rs 32000 per sq ft, so a few years of stuck capital is a large sum for most households. The Mid-Day account is built on a handful of cases, so it cannot tell us how common these delays are across the state.