A 96-flat housing society in suburban Mumbai engaged us after their redevelopment had run thirty-one months past contractual possession date. The developer pleaded force majeure citing pandemic delays, regulatory bottlenecks, and an arithmetic of subcontractor failures.
The society wanted, in order: their flats; compensation for the rent paid through the delay; and, to a degree they did not want to articulate publicly, public vindication. We could deliver one and a half of those three.
The framework that helped most was the Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act’s appellate path — quieter than civil court, faster than arbitration, and structurally biased toward the homebuyer where the contract was explicit on possession dates. We filed; the developer settled inside the second hearing. The settlement was not the recovery the society had hoped for, but it was the recovery they had needed: keys, partial rent compensation, and a commitment letter that the society chose not to publicise.