• Unfair business practice and threaten to prosecute from builder for asking booking amount

Dear Sir,

I have been to site visit to one of the builder in Bangalore and they are building township in Electronic City.

I paid 1 Lakh as advance and signed the booking form. They have not completely filled the booking form saying we will later and send you the scanned copy.

Later I got the scanned copy and realised that they have modified the total amount and rate per sqft.

I mailed them back and asked them to cancel my booking and refund my booking amount.

Now they are saying, booking amount is not refundable as mentioned in the booking form. Honestly, they didn't allow me to read complete booking form, they diverted my mind and took my sign in the booking form.

Now if I ask for the booking amount they are threatening over phone call and asking me to visit their office.

I have all the proofs, modified booking form from them and mail interaction from the sales team.

if I'm saying I will publish my proofs in social media, they are threatening for legal prosecution.

Please suggest, what are the next steps to get my hard earnt 1 Lakh rupees back.
Asked 6 years ago in Civil Law

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14 Answers

when you sign the blank form you authorise builder to fill in details

2) if there is clause that booking amount is non refundable then on cancellation of booking you would not get your money back

3) you can file complaint against builder before consumer forum seek refund of money with interest

4) also claim litigation costs

Ajay Sethi
Advocate, Mumbai
94522 Answers
7485 Consultations

5.0 on 5.0

Dear Client,

Do u have proof of previous rate offered.

NO Prosecution maintainable.

What proofs u have.

Yogendra Singh Rajawat
Advocate, Jaipur
22596 Answers
31 Consultations

4.4 on 5.0

1. Please issue the builder a legal notice demanding refund of booking amount

2. also state how they fraudulently changed the details in the booking form

3. you can mark the legal notice to police as well

Yusuf Rampurawala
Advocate, Mumbai
7483 Answers
79 Consultations

5.0 on 5.0

Sir first of all the legal principle buyer be aware is in play that buyer should be aware of the conditions .

Secondly do you have any proof of previous rates??

Issue a legal notice to buyer.

Complaint in district consumer forum regarding g same and claim refund damages and litigation cost.

Shubham Jhajharia
Advocate, Ahmedabad
25514 Answers
179 Consultations

5.0 on 5.0

Sir,

First and foremost they cannot "threaten you". If you are having all the proofs of your correspondence over email then you can send a legal notice to the builder.

Garima Anil Mehrotra
Advocate, Mumbai
514 Answers
1 Consultation

4.9 on 5.0

Hello sir , it is advisable to file a complaint before RERA ( real estate regulatory authority ) for seeking refund along with compensation .. The RERA has a provision to decide the case within 2 months of recieving the complaint .. You can contact me for further doubts .. Thank you

Hemant Chaudhary
Advocate, Gurgaon
4630 Answers
67 Consultations

4.9 on 5.0

1. Unless you make police complaint against the builder for cheating,forgery and criminal breach of trust, you may not able to recover the money.

2. Issuing legal notice and Registering the complaint with RERA wont fetch you any solution.

Niranjan
Advocate, Bangalore
844 Answers
9 Consultations

4.9 on 5.0

Hi, first you have to lodge the police complaint and thereafter you can file a complaint in the consumer forum for deficiency of service.

Pradeep Bharathipura
Advocate, Bangalore
5604 Answers
335 Consultations

4.5 on 5.0

Send them a legal notice for refund of your earnest/booking amount.

If you were tricked to pay the aforesaid amount without you having given your consent to the terms and conditions contained in the booking form, they cannot take the plea that the booking amount is not refundable.

You may avail the service of sending legal notice through kaanoon.com.

Vibhanshu Srivastava
Advocate, Lucknow
9588 Answers
303 Consultations

5.0 on 5.0

1) You can make complaints in RERA office and consumer forum office at your local city area.

2) And give one legal notice once you register complaints in both the office and see what the consumer forum officer says regarding this.

Ganesh Kadam
Advocate, Pune
12910 Answers
253 Consultations

4.9 on 5.0

They cannot say that they will not refund the booking amount if you have decided to cancel the booking for the reasons that it is transparent and appears to be unfair trade practice.

The signing of the booking form cannot deprive your rights.

The arbitral conditions in the booking form is not binding on you because they may not be legally valid.

You may issue a legal notice demanding the refund of the booking amount, let them give a reply denying the same or citing any relevant clause in the booking form, you can challenge the same properly in the consumer court, you can drag them to consumer forum, where they cannot hold their ground in the given unfair trade practice.

T Kalaiselvan
Advocate, Vellore
84711 Answers
2172 Consultations

5.0 on 5.0

See firslty, you need to understand for the future aspects that always read the documents carefully before signing them.

Secondly, if you the copy of the same booking form (no matter whether signed or not).

Thirdly, then we can compare the terms and conditions the actual one and the one which has been forged.

Lastly, file a case for 420 and forgery on them.

They may come up and give you your amount back as they may also be familiar with the legal consequences of criminal in nature.

Sanjay Baniwal
Advocate, South Delhi
5473 Answers
13 Consultations

5.0 on 5.0

Dear Sir

Be aware of Real Estate Cheaters. Nothing happen go ahead and lodge complaint with police and the put the same on social channels

Kishan Dutt Kalaskar
Advocate, Bangalore
6135 Answers
483 Consultations

4.8 on 5.0

Hello,

Send them a legal notice, in order to claim the refund,

If they do not respond thereafter, file a case against them at the consumer forum.

for the threats being passed by them you may file a police complaint against them.

regards

Anilesh Tewari
Advocate, New Delhi
18077 Answers
377 Consultations

5.0 on 5.0

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