Karnataka REAT: authenticated emails count as valid consent for changing an approved RERA project
· Reported by LiveLaw
The Karnataka Real Estate Appellate Tribunal ruled that a developer can meet RERA's two-thirds allottee consent requirement for altering a sanctioned project through authenticated email exchanges, not just physical signatures. It accepted Sobha Ltd's email record for window and common area changes to its Bengaluru project as valid consent, and treated buyers who did not respond as not objecting.
What this changes for a title check
Section 14(2)(ii) of RERA requires two-thirds allottee consent before a promoter changes a sanctioned project, and this ruling confirms that consent trail does not have to be a signed form; an authenticated email chain is enough, and a non response can be counted by the developer as no objection. For a due diligence check on whether a project's built specifications match its sanctioned plan, a lawyer can no longer assume a deviation is unauthorised just because there is no signed consent letter on file; the developer's email records with allottees are now a document worth asking for before flagging a structural or amenity change as a RERA violation.