Refund to buyers should be with interest at par with home loan rates

In order to ensure that homebuyers recover all the money invested by them, including interest paid on home loans, the National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission (NCDRC) has said builders should refund money for delayed projects with interest at the rate at which a nationalised bank like SBI gave home loan during the corresponding period. The apex consumer commission has said builders have to pay compensation and litigation cost to homebuyers who seek refund. In the absence of any uniformity in the decisions delivered by various consumer forums on the issue of interest rate, a bench of S M Kantikar and Dinesh Singh has said linking it with rate of interest of home loan was “appropriate and logical”.