Sudhakar Lakshmanaraja, a 37-year-old flat owner, has been facing a financial burden for the past six years, having to pay both rent and interest on loans for an apartment he purchased in 2018 due to delays in the project. Lakshmanaraja, along with other buyers of the Thanisandra project, had been promised possession by 2019, but nearly half of the project remains incomplete.

In light of these delays, the Karnataka Real Estate Regulatory Authority (K-Rera) issued a revenue recovery order against the builder in 2022 after the latter failed to compensate or refund buyers within the stipulated time. Despite the order, two years have passed, and the affected homebuyers have yet to receive any compensation. K-Rera has issued recovery orders worth over Rs 7.07 billion in 1,539 cases across 257 projects in the state.

Lakshmanaraja expressed frustration over the ineffectiveness of Rera's recovery process, stating that he had raised the issue with several authorities, emphasizing that the money in question was his hard-earned savings.

K-Rera clarified that while it has the authority to issue revenue recovery orders, the responsibility to recover the money lies with the district administration. So far, only Rs 790 million, or about 11%, has been recovered in 185 cases, leaving more than Rs 6.27 billion still owed by builders in 1,354 cases.

Anil Kalgi, an advocate and real estate investigator, as well as the secretary of the Bangalore City Flat Owners' Association, explained that K-Rera initially orders builders to compensate homebuyers, and if they fail to do so within 60-90 days, a revenue recovery order is issued. However, Kalgi highlighted that the actual recovery of money is up to the deputy commissioner (DC), for which no time limit is specified. He also raised concerns about incomplete or non-started projects, questioning how the DC could recover money in such cases.

K-Rera Chairperson Rakesh Singh clarified that recovery orders are issued when liable parties do not comply within the given time frame, and that K-Rera is in regular communication with district administrations to address the issue, promising improvements in the near future.

Vikram Rai, president of the Bangalore Apartments Federation (BAF), pointed out that builders are obligated to deliver homes on time and meet quality standards. However, in many cases, either the delivery is delayed or compliance issues arise, which consumers may be unaware of. He also noted that although Rera is supposed to prevent such issues, its implementation varies across states, including Karnataka, where strict enforcement has not been consistent.