The Maharashtra Real Estate Appellate Tribunal ruled that a promoter's duty to pay interest for delayed possession under RERA continues until the flat is physically handed over, not until the Occupancy Certificate is obtained. It rejected COVID force majeure and other delay excuses because the contractual possession date had already lapsed before the pandemic began.
What this changes for a title check
This closes a gap lenders and lawyers should stop treating as settled: an Occupancy Certificate is not proof that a promoter's possession obligation ended. When checking a project for financing or resale, the document to ask for now is the actual handover record or possession letter, not the OC date, because interest can keep accruing for years between the two. The tribunal also rejected a promoter's attempt to raise a fresh delayed-payment claim for the first time on appeal, so any counter-claim against an allottee has to be pleaded from the start, not introduced later to offset an interest liability.