UP RERA asks homebuyers to include names of co-allottees in pleas

The Uttar Pradesh Real Estate Regulatory Authority (UP RERA) on Monday asked homebuyers to include the names of co-allottees also in their complaints and said necessary provisions for this are being made on its portal.

In some cases, it said, the complainants have not included the co-allottees as co-complainants and the RERA Benches have disposed of the complaints after hearing the respective parties which in such cases meant hearing only one of the allottees.

There are instances where the co-allottee appeared in RERA and submitted that the complainant did not include his name as co-complainant in the said matter and thus he lost the opportunity of hearing and protecting his interest, it said in a statement.

"Hence, UP RERA has decided that name of the co-allottee shall henceforth be included as co-complainant in the complaints filed by the allottees. Necessary facility is being provided on the portal for this purpose," UP RERA said.

It said it has observed that joint allotment of houses or shops is a common practice in which husband and wife, father and son, brother and sister and other blood relations are co-allottees and there are cases where a person other than blood relation, such as partner, and sometimes more than two persons are co-allottee.

"Their interests do not necessarily co-inside always and disputes between such co-allottees or co-owners do sometimes arise. The absence of the name of the co-allottee in the complaint lodged in RERA is a lacuna due to which resolution of complaints, execution of orders and further proceedings takes more time than required," UP RERA noted.

Accordingly, RERA has made it mandatory for the complainants to add the co-allottees as co-complainants in all future complaints whose names have been mentioned in Agreement for Sale (BBA) and allotment letter.

"Since the names of the co-allottees are missing in a large numbers of complaints already pending in the RERA Benches or in the court of the Adjudicating Officers, it has directed all such complainants to immediately submit an application before the Authority for adding the name of the co-allottees," it said.

The application needs to be filed whether the complaint is before the Bench for adjudication or for enforcement of order or for rectification of an earlier order or for adjudication of compensation.

UP RERA has created an appropriate facility on its portal where a complainant can file such an application online using his dashboard, it added.

The objective of these directions is to impart justice to all the parties, UP RERA chairman Sanjay Bhoosreddy said.

He further emphasized that the co-allottee must be added as a co-complainant in a complaint if he/she is a co-allottee as per the allotment letter or the builder-buyer agreement (BBA) executed in respect of disputed property.

"This initiative will protect the interests of all allottees of the unit. The order to this effect has been issued on March 5, 2024 and uploaded on the portal," he added.