Hyderabad: The district consumer disputes redressal commission, Rangareddy ordered the ‘brokerage-free’ real estate property aggregator NoBroker to pay a consumer compensation of Rs 1.1 lakh for failing to refund the advance payment over a purchase of a flat in Puppalaguda.
The compensation amount adjudged by the consumer forum includes the contested amount of 1 lakh of the refund, nine percent interest on the refund amount from December 2023 till the date of realisation and Rs 10,000 compensation for legal expenses towards the complainant.
The consumer forum’s action comes following a hearing based on the complaint of Khushboo Kumari, a resident of Gandipet, Ranga Reddy district. According to the complaint, she had paid a token amount of rupees 1 lakh to NoBroker, over a property she liked, that was enlisted in the company’s website.
The 3 BHK property, located at Shiva Hills in Puppalaguda, was worth Rs 1.2 crore, and the payment was done by Kumari as the NoBroker website has promised the payment was fully refundable, in case of any event of the purchase falling through.
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Khusboo Kumari, upon the assurance given by the brokerage prop-tech company, of a refund with zero deduction over any property document/legal issues or the seller backing out, within 60 days of token payment, realised that the property was under legal issues.
Kumari’s complaint says that according to the concerned sub registrar’s office, the survey number of the contested property was under a status-quo order, upon which no new registration could be made.
Kumari then contacted NoBroker’s representative, to initiate the refund of the token amount, which the company failed to pay to the complainant Khushboo Kumari.
The consumer forum, noting the unfair trade practise from the side of the prop-tech firm NoBroker, directed the company to comply with the order within 45 days from October 17.
