When possession runs late, interest is arithmetic

Possession dates slip. On a scheme built in phases over several years, some slippage is close to normal, and most of it gets absorbed without anyone falling out.

What buyers often do not know is that the remedy is not a negotiation. It is a formula, and it starts running on its own.

The rate

Where a promoter fails to hand over possession by the date in the agreement, the allottee is entitled to interest on every rupee paid, for every month of delay, until possession.

The rate is prescribed rather than argued: the State Bank of India’s highest marginal cost of lending rate plus two per cent. SBI’s highest MCLR has been 8.95 per cent since 15 October 2026, so the rate is now 10.95 per cent a year. In April 2026 it was 10.80 per cent.

On ₹50 lakh already paid, a twelve-month delay is roughly ₹5.48 lakh in interest at 10.95 per cent. That is the scale of it, and it is why the provision has teeth.

Your two options when it slips

The Act gives the allottee a choice, and it is genuinely a choice.

1. Stay and take the interest. Continue with the purchase and receive interest for the delay period, typically adjusted against your remaining instalments. Most buyers do this, because they want the flat.
2. Withdraw and take a refund. Exit the project and receive the full amount paid back, with interest. This is the stronger remedy and the one worth having in reserve.

You are not required to decide immediately, and choosing to wait does not waive the interest for the period you waited.

How a complaint actually works

The process is administrative rather than a court case, and it is designed to be usable.

• Filed online with the Authority, against the registered project
• ₹5,000 complaint fee
• 60 to 90 days to a first hearing, on recent turnaround
• 60 days to pay once an order is made
• Enforceable as arrears of land revenue through the District Collector if the promoter does not comply

That last point is the one that matters. An order that cannot be enforced is a letter. This one is recoverable the way tax is recoverable.

What weakens a claim

Three things, all avoidable, and all decided long before there is a dispute.

1. No registered agreement for sale. An allotment letter is not the same thing. The agreement is what carries the date, and no more than ten per cent of the cost should have been taken before it was executed and registered.
2. Accepting a revised date in writing. If you sign an addendum agreeing to a new completion date, the clock resets to that one. Read anything you are asked to sign during a delay, and take advice before signing it.
3. Your own late payments. A promoter will argue the delay was partly yours. Keep your instalments current, or your correspondence explaining why they are not.

What this means for a Serenique buyer

The MahaRERA registration for Serenique Phase 1 gives a completion date of 30 September 2031. MahaRERA held in December 2025 that the possession date in your own registered agreement governs a delay claim, even if the project’s date on the portal is later extended. So read the date in your agreement before you sign it.

One more change to know about. In August 2026 MahaRERA gave eligible projects an automatic four-month extension because of the West Asia war. It moves the registration and the project timeline. Commentators read it as no holiday from interest owed under your agreement, though that has not been tested.

Ask for it, read it, and keep a copy with your agreement. It is the single most valuable piece of paper in the whole file, and it is free.

This is general information about the statutory position rather than legal advice. Rates and turnaround times change; confirm the current position before relying on it.