Builder Buyer Agreement: Points to Check Before You Sign

The Builder Buyer Agreement, usually called the BBA or Agreement for Sale, is the primary contract between you and the developer for an under-construction apartment, villa, or floor. It is signed after you book the unit and pay the booking amount, and it is the document a court or a RERA authority will read if anything goes wrong later. The allotment letter you receive at booking is not a substitute. It is a short, builder-friendly promise. The BBA is the long version, often 60 to 120 pages, that spells out price, payment schedule, possession date, carpet and super area, car park rights, maintenance, defect liability, cancellation terms, and the dispute forum. Under the Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act, 2016 and the Haryana Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Rules, every builder in a RERA-registered project in Gurgaon must offer a BBA that complies with the model agreement published by HRERA. In practice, developers still issue heavily customised drafts that reduce their liability and increase yours. Your job before signing is to read the whole document, compare it to the HRERA model, and insist on edits where it departs from the model in a way that hurts you. Do not accept a verbal promise that a clause will be interpreted differently in practice. If it is written, it will be enforced as written.

Walk through the agreement with this checklist in hand. Each item below is a clause type, what the builder usually writes, and what you should push for. Do not sign until the high-risk items at the top are either acceptable as written or amended in the document itself. Verbal assurances from a sales manager carry no legal weight once the BBA is executed. If a clause is amended, both parties must initial every change, and every page of the agreement, including the amended pages, must be signed. Keep an original stamped copy with the builder seal on every page. Scanned copies alone will not help you in a dispute at the HRERA Gurugram bench at Plot C-3, Info Technology Park, Sector 44 Gurugram, or at the civil court in Sector 10A.

In nearly every Gurgaon dispute we see at Optimal Realty, the fight begins at the possession date. Builders write language like 'proposed completion by December 2028, subject to force majeure, grace period of 6 months, and reasonable extensions'. Each of those three softeners can push the real date out by a year or more, and the compensation on the other side is usually a token Rs 5 to 10 per sqft per month. That is almost nothing on a Rs 3 Cr apartment. The HRERA position is clear. If the project is registered under RERA (and in Gurgaon almost every new project since 2017 is), the completion date on the RERA certificate is the enforceable date. Delay beyond that date entitles you to interest at SBI MCLR plus 2 percent per annum on the amount you have already paid, calculated for every month of delay, until actual handover. Insist on this exact language in the BBA. Also strike out any grace period longer than 3 months, and narrow 'force majeure' to the standard list (war, natural disaster, government order halting construction). If the builder refuses, you have a signal about how they will behave when the project slips. You can still buy, but go in with eyes open and reserve 10 percent of your budget for the possibility of a 24-month delay.

Before RERA, builders quoted and billed on 'super built-up area', a number that included your share of lobbies, lifts, stairs, club, basements, and sometimes marketing air. Loading factors of 40 to 50 percent were common. RERA now requires every advertisement, booking form, and BBA to state the carpet area, defined as the net usable area inside your flat walls. The sale consideration must be computed on carpet. Builders still mention super area for reference, which is fine, but the price per sqft that you compare between projects should be the carpet rate. In the BBA, check three things. First, the carpet area number must appear in words and figures. Second, there must be a tolerance clause (typically plus or minus 3 percent) and a formula to refund you at the original per-sqft rate if the final carpet is smaller. Third, the super area and loading factor must be disclosed. If the loading is above 35 percent, ask the builder to justify it in writing. For luxury Gurgaon projects on Golf Course Road or Golf Course Extension Road, loading of 30 to 35 percent is normal because of larger lobbies, double-height drop-offs, and club areas. Anything higher is being used to inflate your bill.

The headline 'basic sale price' is almost never what you actually pay. For a Rs 3 Cr Gurgaon apartment the add-ons routinely take the final cheque to Rs 3.6 to 3.8 Cr. Make the builder break the number down in the BBA. External Development Charges (EDC) and Internal Development Charges (IDC) are levied by HSVP and the state government for the civic infrastructure around the project; these are legitimate but must be billed at actuals, not marked up. Preferential Location Charges (PLC) are the premium for a park-facing, corner, or high-floor unit; this is negotiable. Car park charges in Gurgaon vary from Rs 3 lakh for a stilt to Rs 15 lakh for a covered basement spot in premium projects. Insist on a specific car park number and location in the annexure, not a floating allotment at handover. Club membership and IFMS (Interest-Free Maintenance Security) are one-time charges. GST at 5 percent (or 1 percent for affordable housing) is on top of the above. Finally, prefer a construction-linked payment plan over a time-linked or down-payment plan. Construction-linked ties your cheques to actual slab-casting milestones and gives you leverage if the site stalls.

You will not plan to cancel, but you must know the exit cost before you sign. Pre-RERA agreements often forfeited the entire 10 to 15 percent you had paid as booking amount. The current HRERA position, backed by Supreme Court rulings in the Pioneer Urban and DLF Southern Homes line of cases, is that forfeiture is limited to earnest money, and earnest money cannot exceed 10 percent of the sale consideration. Even that forfeiture is only valid if the cancellation is caused by your default. If the builder is in default (missed possession, altered plan without consent, material misrepresentation), you can walk away with a full refund plus interest at the same SBI MCLR plus 2 percent rate. In the BBA, check for: a cancellation clause that caps forfeiture at 10 percent of the BSP, a 45-day timeline for the builder to refund the balance, and interest on that balance from the date of cancellation until the date of refund. If the clause says 'builder's sole discretion' or 'non-refundable administrative charges', strike it out. On the builder-default side, make sure the clause mirrors Section 18 of RERA: you can either continue in the project with monthly interest for delay, or exit with full refund plus interest. Having both options in writing is a strong position for any Gurgaon buyer.

The BBA will attach a specifications annexure listing fittings, finishes, brands, and features of the apartment and common areas. Treat this annexure as part of the contract. The builder cannot downgrade from Jaquar to a generic brand, from Italian marble to vitrified tiles, or from a 150 KVA DG set to 75 KVA without your written consent. Section 14 of RERA goes further and prohibits any alteration to the sanctioned layout, the FAR, or the plan of your apartment without the written consent of two-thirds of allottees. If the builder adds a floor, changes the elevation, or moves common amenities, you have a statutory right to object. In the BBA, add a clause requiring the builder to share quarterly construction updates and to invite you for a pre-handover inspection at least 30 days before possession. Use that inspection to document every snag in writing: tiles not laid properly, water seepage, electrical points missing, doors not aligned. The defect liability under RERA is 5 years from the date of handover for structural defects and workmanship, and the builder must rectify at no cost within 30 days. Keep every email, snag list, and reply as evidence. If the builder stops responding, you can file a complaint with HRERA Panchkula or the Gurugram bench, whichever has jurisdiction for your sector.