Filing a complaint before TNRERA in Tamil Nadu

Section 31(1) lets any aggrieved person file a complaint with the Authority or the adjudicating officer for a violation or contravention of the Act, the rules or the regulations. The complaint can be made against a promoter, an allottee or a real estate agent. Section 31(2) leaves the form, the manner and the fee to the regulations.

In Tamil Nadu the two routes are separated by form. Rule 37 prescribes Form M for violations that are not reserved for the adjudicating officer, and the Authority hears those complaints through Bench 1 and Bench 2. Rule 38 prescribes Form N for compensation claims under Sections 12, 14, 18 and 19, and those claims go to the adjudicating officer.

The adjudicating officer is appointed under Section 71(1) in consultation with the State Government. The officer is or has been a District Judge and holds an inquiry after giving the parties a reasonable opportunity to be heard. The form should be chosen before drafting begins.

The complainant must be an aggrieved person. The Explanation to Section 31 widens that expression to include an association of allottees and any voluntary consumer association registered under a law in force. A residents' association or a buyers' group can therefore file in its own name, though it should annex the resolution or authorisation under which it acts.

The respondent can be a promoter, an allottee or a real estate agent. A promoter complaint may concern a project that was not registered, a failure to update the project on the Authority's website, a demand for more than ten per cent before the agreement for sale, or a departure from the sanctioned plans. An agent complaint may concern facilitation of a sale in a project that is not registered.

A complainant may appear in person, through an advocate, or through an authorised representative. The fee sheet requires a vakalat with the advocate's enrolment number and the prescribed court fee and Advocate Welfare Fund stamps. A non-advocate representative needs an authorisation in Form 8 for a Form M complaint, and a memo of authorisation for a Form N claim.

A complaint should begin with the project. State the project name, the registration number, the promoter's registered address and the respondent's address for service. Then set out the facts in date order: the booking, the agreement for sale, each payment, the promised possession date and the act or omission complained of.

A Form M complaint should identify the provision that was violated and the direction sought. A Form N claim should identify the compensation head and give a month-by-month computation of interest, rent paid or other loss. Section 72 directs the adjudicating officer to consider the disproportionate gain or unfair advantage made from the default, the loss caused, and whether the default is repetitive. The complaint and its annexures should speak to those factors with documents rather than assertions.

The agreement, payment receipts, bank statements, demand letters, emails, brochures, photographs and the project registration printout should be annexed. Every page should be attested and the documents indexed. Three sets are needed, with enough copies for each respondent.

The Act does not publish a limitation period for either form. A complaint should still be filed promptly, while the documents are available and the delay is recent. TNRERA's portal instructions should be checked for any current requirement on limitation or maintainability.

Form M carries a fee of rupees one thousand and Form N a fee of rupees five thousand. Both are remitted online. The fee sheet also requires rupees six hundred towards postage, paid online to the Authority. Payment details are published in the fee sheet and on the portal, and they should be checked on the day of filing.

Form M is filed online first. Within seven days of the online filing in Tamil Nadu, the complainant must send or deliver three sets of the complaint, with copies for the respondents, supporting documents attested on every page and a proper index. The Authority accepts the hard copies by registered post or in person at its Chennai office. Form N follows the same three-set rule, with the hard copies sent by registered post or delivered in person.

A Form M complaint presented through an advocate needs a vakalat with the enrolment number, a court fee stamp of rupees ten and an Advocate Welfare Fund stamp of rupees thirty. Form N requires the applicable court fee and welfare fund stamps. A representative who is not an advocate files an authorisation in Form 8 for Form M, or a memo of authorisation for Form N, with an address, e-mail and mobile number for service.

The acknowledgment from the online filing, the payment receipts and the postal proof should be kept together. They establish the filing date if a question arises about the seven-day window or about delay.

The Authority may issue an interim order during an inquiry. Section 36 allows it to restrain a promoter, allottee or real estate agent from continuing an act that contravenes the Act, or from starting an act that is about to be committed, until the inquiry ends. The power can be exercised without notice where the Authority considers it necessary.

The adjudicating officer may summon any person acquainted with the facts, require the production of documents and examine witnesses under Section 71(3). After the inquiry, the officer may direct payment of compensation or interest as the officer thinks fit under the relevant section.

Section 71(2) requires the adjudicating officer to dispose of the application within sixty days of receipt. If the application cannot be disposed of in that period, the officer must record the reasons in writing. Form M hearings before the Authority do not carry that deadline, and the time taken depends on the response, the evidence and the bench's list.

If an order is not complied with, Section 40 allows the amount to be recovered as arrears of land revenue. The same section provides for enforcement of directions in the prescribed manner. A complainant should keep a certified copy of the order and follow up with the Authority's recovery cell rather than filing a fresh complaint for the same relief.

Section 43(5) allows any person aggrieved by a direction, decision or order of the Authority or the adjudicating officer to appeal to the Tamil Nadu Real Estate Appellate Tribunal. The appeal is filed within sixty days from the date the order is received, and the Tribunal may condone a longer delay for sufficient cause under Section 44(2).

A promoter's appeal is not heard unless the promoter first deposits at least thirty per cent of the penalty, or the total amount payable to the allottee including interest and compensation, or both, as the case may be. The proviso to Section 43(5) leaves the Tribunal free to require a higher percentage.

Section 44(5) asks the Tribunal to dispose of the appeal within sixty days, and to record reasons if it cannot. The appeal should be filed with the certified copy of the order, the grounds, the statement of facts and proof of the deposit where the appellant is the promoter. An allottee who appeals does not face the deposit requirement.

A common mistake is the wrong form. A compensation claim filed in Form M delays the claim and may be returned. A violation complaint filed in Form N asks the adjudicating officer to decide something outside Sections 12, 14, 18 and 19.

Incomplete filing comes next. The online acknowledgment is not the end of the process. The hard copies, the attested annexures, the index and the postage payment must follow within the stated time.

A complaint without a computation is harder to decide. A claim for interest or compensation should show the principal, the period, the rate and the working. A prayer for an unspecified amount gives the adjudicating officer little to work with.

Filing the same claim in two forums creates a different problem. Section 79 bars a civil court from hearing a matter the Authority, the adjudicating officer or the Tribunal can determine. Experion Developers held that the bar does not extend to a consumer commission, and Imperia Structures recorded that Section 18 remedies are without prejudice to other remedies. A buyer can choose the forum, but the same loss should not be claimed twice.

Accepting possession or signing a settlement can end the claim before it is heard. Either step may be treated as a waiver of the accrued interest or as a release of the promoter. A buyer who intends to claim should take advice before signing.