The Competition Commission of India is understood to have suggested certain modifications in the Buyers-Sellers Agreements to bring down the monopoly of developers.

The move comes following Federation of Apartment Owners Association approaching the Competition Commission of India to look into the Buyer Seller Agreement, which they said was skewed towards developers. The newly formed Association has been formed to provide information about rules and regulation against exploitation by developers.

“There is complete violation of the agreement by most developers, as the agreements are one-sided. We had approached CCI to probe the dominance of developers,” Gautam Gulati, Senior Vice-President, Federation of Apartment Owners Association, said.

Amit Jain, a member of the association, said the lack of a regulator has allowed malpractices to proliferate, with consumers facing the brunt of questionable land acquisitions, allotments, misuse of buyers money and delayed projects. FAOA said it will try to work in association with real estate bodies like CREDAI and NAREDCO, among others.

Real estate experts pointed out that consumers have been seeking correction in the clause, where a buyer is expected to pay up to 18 per cent interest on defaulting on the instalment. However, in case of a delay in delivery by the developer, it pays only one to two per cent as penalty charge.

Lawyers Business Line spoke to said the CCI’s view on modification in the agreement comes in the wake of the anti-monopoly watchdog being flooded with complaints against builders and developers.

Most complaints include one-sided agreements with buyers, cheating and delayed projects among others.

>bindu.menon@thehindu.co.in

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