Builder Ignores Defect Liability Complaints? The 5-Year Rule and How to Use It

Reviewed on: 2026-06-12.

Do these four things first, in this order.

1. Find your possession date. The defect liability clock under Section 14(3) of the RERA Act, 2016 runs for five years from the date of handing over possession. Locate the possession letter and note the date. Everything else hangs on it.
2. Photograph and list every defect today. Seepage patches, cracks, hollow tiles, failing plumbing, faulty wiring, lift problems, leaking terraces. Date-stamped photos plus a numbered defect list, flat-wise and common-area-wise.
3. Send a written defect notice to the builder by email and registered post, citing Section 14(3) and demanding rectification within 30 days. Calls and site-visit promises do not start the statutory clock. A dated written notice does.
4. Diarise day 31. If rectification has not happened, you are entitled to compensation and can file before your state RERA authority without further warning.

The section is broader than most builders admit. If “any structural defect or any other defect in workmanship, quality or provision of services, or any other obligations of the promoter as per the agreement for sale” is brought to the promoter's notice within five years of possession, he must rectify it without further charge, within thirty days. If he fails, the aggrieved allottee is entitled to compensation under the Act.

Three points buyers miss.

• It covers more than structure. Bad waterproofing, substandard fittings, non-functional amenities promised in the agreement, all qualify as workmanship, quality or service defects.
• It is free. Any builder demanding “repair charges” inside the five-year window for a covered defect is contravening the section.
• The notice date matters, not the repair date. If you intimate a defect in year five, the obligation attaches even if the dispute drags past the five-year mark.

A one-year “defect liability period” in your agreement does not shrink the statute. Five years is the floor RERA sets, and a contrary clause is unenforceable.

Whether you fight alone or through the society, maintain one running defect register. Three columns: defect description with location, date first noticed with photo reference, and date intimated to the builder with the proof of dispatch. When the matter reaches RERA, this register, backed by photos and postal receipts, beats a thick folder of angry emails. For common-area defects, have the society's managing committee adopt the register by resolution so the builder cannot dismiss it as one resident's grievance.

For anything structural, add an independent engineer's inspection report. A chartered structural engineer's visit costs a few thousand rupees and converts “seepage in my bedroom” into “failure of terrace waterproofing membrane affecting flats 901 to 904”, which is the language orders get written in.

To: [Promoter name], [registered office address]
Subject: Defect rectification notice under Section 14(3), RERA Act 2016
Unit [no.], [Project name], RERA Regn No. [XXXX]

1. Possession of the above unit was handed over to me on [date]. This
   notice is within five years of that date.
2. The following defects in workmanship, quality and provision of
   services have been noticed (photographs and engineer's report
   enclosed):
   (a) [defect, location]
   (b) [defect, location]
   (c) [defect, location]
3. Under Section 14(3) of the Real Estate (Regulation and Development)
   Act, 2016, you are required to rectify these defects without
   further charge within thirty days of this notice.
4. If rectification is not completed within thirty days, I shall seek
   compensation and appropriate orders before the [State] Real Estate
   Regulatory Authority without further reference to you.

Enclosures: defect register, photographs, engineer's report,
possession letter copy.
[Name, unit, mobile, email, date]

Send one copy per affected flat, or one consolidated society notice listing flats, with individual signatures attached.

File on your state portal against the project registration number. In Karnataka, complaints go through rera.karnataka.gov.in with a Rs 1,000 fee; MahaRERA uses Form A with Rs 5,000, and compensation is quantified before the Adjudicating Officer; UP RERA files at up-rera.in for Rs 1,000. Attach the notice, proof of delivery, the defect register, photos and the engineer's report. Ask for: rectification under the authority's supervision within a fixed time, compensation for the failure to rectify within 30 days, and costs of the engineer's report and any interim repairs you were forced to pay for. Keep receipts for those interim repairs, urgent leaks cannot wait for orders, and authorities have allowed recovery where the spend is documented.

If the builder's defence is that the society took over maintenance, point out that Section 14(3) liability is the promoter's and does not transfer with the maintenance handover. Maintenance handover disputes are a separate track, covered in builder delays maintenance transfer.

The builder is private, so no RTI lies against him. Two public-authority records still help. First, the municipal body that issued the occupancy certificate holds the structural stability certificate and completion drawings the builder submitted; an RTI copy lets your engineer compare what was certified with what was built. Second, if the defect implicates sanctioned specifications, the planning authority's file is relevant. File through the online RTI route and, if refused, see why RTI gets rejected before drafting your first appeal.

• Letting the builder's site team do cosmetic patch jobs without closing entries in the defect register. Record what was actually fixed and what reappeared.
• Accepting “visit logged” WhatsApp replies as compliance. Only rectification within 30 days discharges the duty.
• Missing the five-year window for late-appearing defects. Inspect seriously around year four and notify everything visible.
• Signing a final “no dues and no defects” letter at maintenance handover. It will be quoted against the society later.

Related guides: builder not handing over common areas, corpus and maintenance records not handed over, and promised clubhouse never completed.

Section 14(3) prevails. The five-year statutory period cannot be contracted down. Cite the section in your notice.

The safest position: intimate the recurrence in writing within the original five years. A badly executed repair of a noticed defect remains the builder's obligation.

Either can, but the registered society or association filing for common areas carries more weight and avoids duplicate complaints. Individual flat defects can ride along in the same consolidated complaint.

File at RERA anyway. The promoter entity and its registration survive the sales office. If the promoter is in insolvency, take legal advice on filing your claim in that proceeding too.

Avoid it. Withholding gives the builder a counter-story. Pay under protest and claim compensation instead.

No. Section 14(3) covers defects in workmanship, quality, services and agreement obligations, not ageing paint or worn fittings from normal use. Your engineer's report should distinguish the two.

Download the defect liability notice checklist (PDF).