In a Pune suburb, a buyer who paid ₹1.6 crore for a plot under a developer’s allotment letter discovered that the promised stamp duty and registration costs had been abandoned when the sale agreement was drafted. He had expected the builder to cover these charges, as the allotment letter explicitly stated so.
The buyer also found that the internal roads, originally marketed as a gated township, were open to public access, and the recreational ground had been taken over by MSRDC, reducing the plot’s value by about 33 %.
MahaRERA’s review of the allotment letter, the deviation report, and the model agreement revealed that each document independently recorded the builder’s commitment to bear the stamp duty and registration charges. The builder’s claim that the clause was a typographical error was rejected.
Advocate Siddharth Chandrashekhar told the media that “a builder cannot contractually pass a statutory cost on to a buyer when earlier documents stated the builder would bear that cost.” He argued that the allotment letter, deviation report and model agreement each independently confirmed the builder’s obligation.
The order directs the builder to pay the stamp duty and registration charges within 30 days, and to compensate the buyer with interest calculated at the State Bank of India’s MCLR plus 2 %, amounting to approximately ₹5.43 lakh for the 116‑day delay before the occupation certificate was issued on April 27 2026.
The builder, which has said it is willing to execute a registered sale agreement, is now bound by the order, with enforcement scheduled for June 15. The buyer will receive the charges and interest, restoring the promised value of the plot.