Construction Defects After Redevelopment: The Five-Year Claim, the Notice and the Forum

If a redeveloped building leaks, cracks, or shows weak workmanship after members move back in, the developer — not the flat owners — is legally bound to set it right at his own cost. The provision is Section 14(3) of the Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act, 2016 (RERA), and it is built on two dates, not on opinion. Any structural defect, or any defect in workmanship, quality or provision of services, that is brought to the promoter’s notice within five years of the date possession was handed over must be rectified by him at no further charge within thirty days. If he does not rectify within those thirty days, the allottee becomes entitled to compensation under the Act. This page gives you the two dates to calculate for your own building, the notice to serve, the form and fee to file it in, the forum that hears it, and what your committee must minute. It is general legal information, not legal advice for your building.

The two dates to calculate today

Before reading anything else, take out the possession letter and work out these dates. They are the only two figures that decide whether a defect claim is alive or dead.

Source: RERA 2016 s.14(3); Consumer Protection Act 2019 s.69. Dates are illustrative — substitute your own possession date. Do not test the last day of a period; report each defect in writing as soon as it appears.

Where the builder’s duty to fix defects comes from

Fixing a badly built structure is not a goodwill gesture from the developer. It is a statutory duty, and both the regulator and the courts treat a broken promise on quality as something a society or an individual member can enforce. Two laws matter, depending on when your building was handed over.

RERA Section 14(3): the five-year rule (current position)

Section 14(3) is the heart of the modern defect law. The word “defect” here is wide — it covers structural defects such as cracks in columns, beams, or slabs, and also defects in workmanship, quality, or services such as leaking terraces, failing plumbing, or lifts that do not run. If the defect is brought to the promoter’s notice within five years of possession, he must rectify it without further charge within thirty days; if he does not, the allottee is entitled to compensation under the Act.

Three neighbouring provisions decide how you use that right, and it is worth citing them by number:

• Section 14(1) and 14(2) — the project must be completed as per the sanctioned plans and specifications. Under s.14(2)(i) the promoter cannot alter the specifications of your flat without your previous written consent; under s.14(2)(ii) he cannot make additions or alterations to the building or its common areas without the previous written consent of at least two-thirds of the allottees other than the promoter. Building differently from the approved plans is therefore a breach in its own right, separate from the quality of the work.
• Section 31 — the complaint provision. Any aggrieved person may complain to the Authority; in Maharashtra that is MahaRERA. In Maharashtra the complaint goes in Form ‘A’ under Rule 6 of the Maharashtra Real Estate (Regulation and Development) (Recovery of Interest, Penalty, Compensation, Fine payable, Forms of Complaints and Appeal, etc.) Rules, 2017, with a fee of ₹5,000.
• Section 71 — compensation under Section 14 is adjudged by the adjudicating officer, not by the Authority. That application goes in Form ‘B’ under Rule 7 of the same Rules, also with a fee of ₹5,000. Section 71 requires the adjudicating officer to dispose of the application within sixty days, recording written reasons if he cannot.

Two checks before you rely on this route. First, find the project’s MahaRERA registration number — it is printed on the agreement and on the developer’s advertising, and the project can be searched on the MahaRERA portal. Second, remember that registration is not required for every project: Section 3(2)(a) exempts land not exceeding 500 sq m or projects of not more than eight apartments, so a very small redevelopment may fall outside MahaRERA and leave the consumer commission or the civil court as your forum. Confirm the current fee and form on the MahaRERA portal before you pay. For the full picture of what a promoter must and must not do, see our note on MahaRERA promoter obligations.

MOFA, 1963: the older duty (buildings handed over before RERA)

Before RERA, the Maharashtra Ownership Flats Act, 1963 (MOFA) governed the relationship between promoter and flat purchaser, and it still governs buildings handed over before RERA came into force in 2017. The operative provision is Section 7(2) of MOFA: if any defect in the building or in the material used, or any unauthorised change in the construction, is brought to the promoter’s notice within three years from the date of handing over possession, it must wherever possible be rectified by the promoter without further charge — and where rectification is not reasonably possible, the flat takers are entitled to receive reasonable compensation. (Three years is itself an extension of the original period, made by Maharashtra Act 36 of 1986.) MOFA also places a continuing duty on the promoter under Section 11 to convey title to the society and, until conveyance, to bear the building’s outgoings and taxes. If your society is still chasing the developer for title, our related judgment page on a builder’s duty to pay outgoings until conveyance is worth reading alongside this one.

Source: MOFA 1963 s.7(2) and s.11; RERA 2016 s.14(3), s.31 and s.71; Maharashtra Real Estate (Regulation and Development) (Recovery of Interest, Penalty, Compensation, Fine payable, Forms of Complaints and Appeal, etc.) Rules, 2017, Rules 6 and 7.

Flat owners are “consumers” — a second route

RERA is not the only door, and you do not need to rely on anybody’s summary of the case law to walk through this one — the Consumer Protection Act, 2019 says it in the definitions. Section 2(42) defines “service” and expressly names housing construction in the list. Section 2(11) defines “deficiency” as any fault, imperfection, shortcoming or inadequacy in the quality, nature and manner of performance required to be maintained by or under any law, or undertaken under a contract. Badly built housing therefore fits the statute on its face.

Two procedural points decide whether your complaint is even admitted:

• Limitation — Section 69. A consumer complaint must be filed within two years from the date on which the cause of action arose. Delay can be condoned only if you satisfy the Commission that there was sufficient cause, and it must record reasons for condoning it. Diarise the date.
• Who may file — Section 35(1). A consumer may file for himself. Where numerous consumers have the same interest, one or more of them may file on behalf of all of them under Section 35(1)(c), but only with the permission of the Commission. If the committee intends to act for all members on a common defect, ask for that permission in the complaint itself rather than discovering the objection later.

The commissions are tiered by the value of the consideration paid:

Source: Consumer Protection Act 2019 ss.2(11), 2(42), 34, 35, 47, 58 and 69, read with the Consumer Protection (Jurisdiction of the District Commission, the State Commission and the National Commission) Rules, 2021. These thresholds have been revised before — confirm the current limits before you file.

One redevelopment-specific caution on that table. The tiers turn on “the value of the goods or services paid as consideration,” and a returning member usually pays no price at all for his new flat — he gives up the old one. How the claim is valued in that situation is a question to put to your advocate before you choose a tier, because filing in the wrong one costs months. The practical advantage of the consumer route remains that it is built around compensating loss and inconvenience, not only ordering a repair.

What Section 14(3) requires you to establish

Rather than rely on a general impression of how forums decide, work from the words of the sub-section. It asks for three things, and nothing more:

1. A defect of the described kind — a structural defect, or a defect in workmanship, quality or provision of services, or a breach of an obligation the agreement for sale places on the promoter.
2. Notice to the promoter — the defect must be “brought to the notice” of the promoter. The section does not prescribe a form of notice, which is exactly why it must be in writing and dated: what you have to prove later is the date on which he was told.
3. Timing — that notice must be within five years from the date of handing over possession.

Note what the sub-section does not ask for. It does not require the allottee to prove negligence, or to name the sub-contractor, or to establish that the promoter acted in bad faith. It also runs from possession, not from the occupancy certificate and not from the date the defect appears — so a fault that surfaces in year four is squarely inside the period, provided you report it before year five closes. Completion of the project does not shorten the period either; the five years begin when the building is handed over.

What decides most claims in practice is therefore evidence of the three elements: a dated written notice with proof of delivery, and an independent structural engineer’s report identifying the defect as a construction defect rather than ordinary wear. Assemble those before you file.

What each forum can order, and under which provision

Ask for relief by its statutory name. The table below maps the relief a society usually wants to the provision that supplies it.

Source: RERA 2016 ss.14, 18, 31, 71 and 72; Consumer Protection Act 2019 s.39; MOFA 1963 s.7(2). What any particular forum actually orders depends on the pleadings and the evidence in that case.

What legally counts as a construction defect

Not every crack or stain is a legal defect — ordinary wear and poor maintenance by residents do not count. But the following commonly qualify when they stem from the quality of construction rather than normal use:

• Recurring seepage and leakage from terraces, external walls, bathrooms, or common ducts.
• Cracks in walls, columns, beams, or slabs that point to weak workmanship or design.
• Plaster, tiles, or dado falling off soon after possession.
• Faulty drainage, waterproofing, or plumbing that keeps failing despite repairs.
• Use of substandard materials, or deviation from the sanctioned plans without the two-thirds consent required by Section 14(2)(ii).
• Lifts, fire-fighting systems, water pumps, or common amenities that do not work as promised.

The document to serve: a notice under Section 14(3)

Everything in this page turns on one piece of paper. Head it “Notice under Section 14(3) of the Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act, 2016” and address it to the promoter by the name and address shown in the development agreement and on the project’s MahaRERA page. Serve it by registered post with acknowledgement due, keep the receipt and the A.D. card, and send the same text by email the same day so there is a second dated record. Seven paragraphs are enough.

Attach a defect schedule as Annexure A, in this shape, one row per defect. A schedule in this form is what an engineer can certify and what a forum can grant relief on; a paragraph saying “there is leakage everywhere” is not.

Illustrative rows — the format is what matters, not the entries. Also annex the possession letter, the occupancy certificate, the relevant pages of the development agreement or the permanent alternate accommodation agreement, and the engineer’s report.

How your society should document and pursue a defect claim

Strong claims are won on paper long before they reach a forum. Whether you go to MahaRERA, a consumer commission, or court, the same groundwork applies:

1. Inspect jointly at handover. Prepare a snag list when you take possession and get it signed by the developer’s representative. Our guide on possession and corpus explains exactly what to check before you accept the building.
2. Get an independent expert report. Appoint a structural engineer or licensed surveyor to inspect and certify the defects. This report is usually the single most important piece of evidence in any defect claim.
3. Serve the Section 14(3) notice within the five years. Use the seven-paragraph structure set out above, with the defect schedule annexed. Send it by registered post with acknowledgement due and by email on the same day, and calculate the thirty-day expiry date the moment you post it.
4. Preserve your paperwork. Keep the development agreement, sanctioned plans, possession letters, occupancy certificate, and every piece of correspondence about quality. Weak or one-sided drafting is a common problem — consider a professional tender and agreement review before you sign, so defect obligations are watertight.
5. Choose the right forum and the right form. For a MahaRERA-registered project, rectification is sought by a complaint in Form ‘A’ (Rule 6) and compensation by an application in Form ‘B’ (Rule 7), each with a ₹5,000 fee. A consumer complaint goes to the District, State or National Commission by value, within two years of the cause of action. Civil courts remain the route for MOFA-era buildings and for larger or more complex disputes.
6. Act as a society. For common-area and structural defects, pass a managing-committee resolution and pursue the claim in the society’s name, so relief benefits every member rather than one flat. Where the claim is made for all members together in a consumer commission, ask for permission under Section 35(1)(c) in the complaint itself.

If the same builder is also missing deadlines, read what to do about builder delay, and if members are still out of their homes, our note on transit rent and the construction period sets out your rights during the wait.

Which forum decides a defect claim?

Choosing the wrong forum wastes months. A useful rule of thumb: a dispute against the developer over construction quality goes to RERA, a consumer commission, or a civil court, while a dispute among members or with the committee over how the society is run goes to the Co-operative Court.

Source: RERA 2016 ss.14, 18, 31, 71, 72; Maharashtra RERA (Complaints and Appeal) Rules 2017, Rules 6 and 7; Consumer Protection Act 2019 ss.35, 39, 69; MOFA 1963 s.7(2); MCS Act 1960 ss.91, 92 and the section 79A directive dated 4 July 2019.

If you are unsure where a particular grievance belongs, our companion page on which forum decides a redevelopment dispute walks through the options in more detail.

What the society must minute, and when

A defect claim brought in the society’s name lives or dies on the minute book. An opposite party will ask who authorised the complaint, and an unauthorised signature is an easy objection to take. Four entries, in this order:

1. On taking possession of the building. Record the exact date of handover, resolve to keep the possession letter and occupancy certificate in the society’s records, and minute the calculated closing date of the five-year period under Section 14(3). Put that date on the notice board.
2. On appointing the expert. Resolve to appoint a named structural engineer or licensed surveyor, record the fee sanctioned, and record the scope of inspection. The report should be addressed to the society.
3. Before serving the notice. Resolve to serve a notice under Section 14(3), approve the defect schedule as annexed, and name the office-bearer authorised to sign, serve and follow it up. This is the resolution number you will quote in paragraph 3 of the notice.
4. After the thirty days lapse. Minute the date of service, the date the thirty days expired, and whether any rectification was carried out. Then resolve to file — naming the forum, the form, the advocate, and the fee sanctioned — and, where the claim is for all members, to seek permission under Section 35(1)(c) if the consumer route is chosen. For a claim of any size, place the decision before the general body as well.

Keep every notice, reply, courier receipt and acknowledgement in a single file arranged by date. That file, and the engineer’s report, are the claim.

What this means for your society

Reduce the whole page to five entries in your file. One: the date possession was handed over, and the date five years later — the deadline for reporting anything under Section 14(3). Two: a committee resolution naming the office-bearer who may sign the notice. Three: the notice under Section 14(3), served by registered post A.D. with the defect schedule and the engineer’s report annexed. Four: the date thirty days after service — the day the right to compensation arises if nothing has been repaired. Five: the forum and form — MahaRERA in Form ‘A’ under Rule 6 for rectification, Form ‘B’ under Rule 7 to the adjudicating officer for compensation, or a consumer commission within two years of that thirtieth day. A society that has those five things is in a strong position; without them, even a genuine defect becomes hard to prove.

This article is general legal information, not legal advice. Every building, agreement, and defect is different, and the current position of the law can turn on facts specific to your project. Before filing a claim, have a lawyer review your development agreement, sanctioned plans, and correspondence, and advise on the best forum for your case. If you would like a plain-language view of your options first, you can register your society for a no-obligation answer from our team.