Haryana REAT: buyer payment record can prove a builder-buyer relationship even without a signed agreement
· Reported by LiveLaw
The Haryana Real Estate Appellate Tribunal held that a promoter-allottee relationship exists once a developer accepts and keeps a buyer's money against an identified plot, even if no formal builder-buyer agreement was signed and no unit was ever formally allotted. It upheld RERA Panchkula's order directing Omaxe to allot the buyers a unit in a later phase at the original price, plus delay compensation.
What this changes for a title check
This changes what counts as a live claim against a project unit during diligence. A buyer's payment receipts and correspondence tying money to a specific plot size and price can now establish an enforceable promoter-allottee relationship even where the developer never signed a builder-buyer agreement or issued a formal allotment letter, so a search that only checks for registered BBAs or allotment letters can miss a real, RERA-enforceable claim sitting in a developer's collection records. A lawyer verifying a resale, or a bank taking project inventory as security, should now also ask the developer for buyer payment ledgers, not just the executed agreements, before certifying a unit is free of prior claims.