The Bombay High Court last week dismissed appeals by Lavasa Corporation who said that long lease agreements do not fall within the purview of the Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act (RERA). The court ruled that the agreement for a 999-year lease amounted to a perpetual lease; and though the agreement signed said it was an agreement of lease, it was in reality an agreement of sale.

The court held that the objective of RERA is to protect consumers, and "mere nomenclature of the document as 'agreement of lease' will not in any way take away the rights given to them by the statute".

Our Take

RERA was established to ensure transparent sale of real estate projects and to safeguard the interest of the homebuyers. Court judgements of this nature reinstate the principles on which the most promising reform for this sector was brought into place.