Your Builder Changed the Layout. Section 14 Requires Consent

What the section covers

Section 14 of the Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act, 2016 addresses adherence to sanctioned plans and project specifications by the promoter, and deals with the circumstances in which alterations may be made.

The structure distinguishes between changes to a particular apartment, which engage the consent of that allottee, and changes to the sanctioned plans, layout plans, specifications or common areas of the project, which engage the consent of a defined proportion of allottees rather than of the promoter alone.

The common areas point

This is where most disputes sit. Amenities described at sale, an open area, a clubhouse, a landscaped space, form part of what buyers priced into their decision, and they are also the parts most easily reduced when a project runs late or over budget.

The Act treats those as belonging to the project rather than to the promoter discretion, which is why the consent threshold matters. A promoter reallocating common area unilaterally is doing something the section addresses.

Structural defects within five years

Section 14 also addresses the position where any structural defect, or defect in workmanship, quality or provision of service, is brought to the notice of the promoter within a period of five years from the date of handing over possession.

That is a meaningful protection and it is frequently unknown to buyers, who assume that once possession is taken the promoter obligations end. The practical requirement is notice: defects have to be brought to the promoter attention within the period, in writing, with a record.

What to keep

• The brochure, floor plan and layout plan you were shown at sale, with dates.
• The sanctioned plan as disclosed on the State RERA record.
• Price sheets and any written description of amenities.
• Emails and messages with the sales team, which frequently contain commitments the agreement does not.
• Photographs at handover, which establish the condition and configuration at that date.

Raising it

Where a change has been made, raise it in writing promptly, identifying what was shown, what was delivered and when you noticed. Delay weakens a complaint both practically and, for defects, against the five-year period.

Where the change affects common areas or the project generally, other allottees are in the same position, and a collective approach is usually more effective than individual correspondence. Complaints go to the State authority, and how that process runs varies by state, which is worth advice locally.