Yes, the builder is still responsible. Under Section 14(3) of the Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act 2016, or RERA, builder defect liability runs five years from the date of handing over possession: any structural defect, or any other defect in workmanship, quality or provision of services, or any other obligation of the promoter under the agreement for sale, brought to his notice within those five years must be rectified by him without further charge within thirty days, failing which you are entitled to compensation under the Act. The proviso to Section 11(4)(a) continues that responsibility after the conveyance deeds are executed, so your registered sale deed does not close it. K-RERA below means the Karnataka authority.
Part of the RERA and homebuyer disputes practice at S Jain & Attorneys, Bangalore.
This is for an owner in Bengaluru who took possession one to three years ago, now has cracks, seepage, a leaking terrace, failed plumbing, lifting tiles or a lift that never worked, and has been told the warranty is over or the association must fix it. Late possession and refunds are in the guide on builder delay and Section 18.
Cracks and leaks a year after possession: is the builder still responsible?
He is, for five years from handover, and the table below is the whole of Section 14(3) on one screen.
| Question | What Section 14(3) says |
|---|---|
| What is covered | Any structural defect, or any other defect in workmanship, quality or provision of services, or any other obligation of the promoter under the agreement for sale |
| Who has to act first | The allottee, by bringing the defect to the promoter's notice |
| Within what period | Five years from the date of handing over possession |
| What the promoter must do | Rectify the defect without further charge |
| Within how long | Thirty days |
| If he fails | The aggrieved allottee is entitled to appropriate compensation in the manner provided under the Act |
| Does the sale deed end it | No. The proviso to Section 11(4)(a) continues the responsibility after the conveyance deeds are executed |
Key takeaway. Section 14(3) is a statutory duty, not a warranty the builder wrote. Five years to notify, thirty days for him to fix it free, compensation if he does not, and the sale deed does not switch it off.
The three rules that decide most of these cases are these.
Five years, thirty days
You have five years from the date of handing over possession to notify the defect. The promoter then has thirty days to rectify it without charging you anything.
Survives the sale deed
The proviso to Section 11(4)(a) keeps the promoter's defect responsibility alive after the conveyance deeds of all the apartments are executed, so registration does not end it.
Resale buyers included
Section 2(d) counts a person who later acquires the allotment by sale or transfer as an allottee, so a second owner within the five years can invoke the section.
What counts as a defect under Section 14(3), and what does not?
Four heads and a catch-all. Structural defects sit in the foundations, columns, beams, slabs and load-bearing walls. Workmanship covers plaster cracking along block joints, hollow tiles and seepage through a badly finished joint or an unsealed terrace. Quality covers materials below the specification schedule in the agreement for sale. Provision of services covers the plumbing, electrical lines, lift, water supply, sewage plant and fire system that were promised and do not work. The catch-all picks up any other obligation under the agreement, and Section 14(2) bars the promoter from substituting the disclosed fixtures, fittings and amenities without your consent.
The section lists no exclusions, but the promoter will say what you have is something else. Ordinary wear. Damage from your own renovation. A neighbour's alteration. A drain nobody cleaned. These disputes turn on causation, so an engineer's report on the cause matters more than photographs of the crack.
The other line the builder draws is between your flat and the common areas. A terrace, a lift, a sump, a sewage plant and the main walls are common areas under Section 2(n) of RERA and Section 3(f) of the Karnataka Apartment Ownership Act 1972, and after conveyance Sections 6(5) and 16(2)(f) of the 1972 Act put their maintenance, repair and replacement on the association as a common expense. Maintenance is not rectifying a construction defect. Section 14(3) does not distinguish the flat from the common areas, the Explanation to Section 31 lets the association of allottees complain, and Section 23 of the 1972 Act lets the Board of Managers sue for two or more owners about the common areas. The builder is right that the association handles upkeep and wrong that it must absorb a defect notified inside five years. The association side is in the Ask Me answer on rights in an apartment owners' association.
Builder defect liability: five years under RERA, but from which date?
From the date of handing over possession. Not from the occupancy certificate, the registration or the day you moved in. The possession letter or handover acknowledgment is the paper the promoter will hold up, and if you took keys for fit-out before the formal handover, expect him to argue for the earlier date.
In a project that ran the sequence the Act expects, the dates sit close together, because Section 19(10) requires the allottee to take physical possession within two months of the occupancy certificate. Where possession was handed over before any certificate existed, the promoter's own failure under Section 11(4)(b), do not assume the clock is paused, because nothing in this article stretches the words handing over possession. Count from the earliest date on any handover paper and act inside it. The missing certificate is a separate complaint, covered in the guide on possession without an occupancy certificate.
One feature of the wording helps you. The defect must be brought to the promoter's notice within five years, but the complaint need not be filed within them, so a dated notice that reaches him in year four preserves the right even if the K-RERA complaint follows later.
Deadline warning. The five years run from the handover date on the promoter's paper, and it is the notice, not the complaint, that must land inside them. A resale buyer inherits the original date, not a fresh one.
What must the builder do once I complain, and by when?
Rectify the defect, without further charge, within thirty days of your notice. Rectify means cure the defect, not hide the symptom: a crack filled and repainted that reopens in the next monsoon has not been rectified. Without further charge means he cannot bill you, deduct the cost from any deposit, or make the repair conditional on your signing away other claims.
If he does nothing, or does it badly, the section sends you to compensation in the manner provided under the Act, which is Section 71. The Authority appoints an adjudicating officer, who is or has been a District Judge, to adjudge compensation under Sections 12, 14, 18 and 19 within a sixty-day target set by Section 71(2). Section 72 tells him what to weigh: any disproportionate gain to the promoter, the loss caused by the default, and whether the default is repetitive. For a defect that means the cost of having the work done by your own contractor and the loss that flowed from the delay. Section 18(3) separately covers the promoter's failure of any other obligation under the Act or the agreement.
Money is not the only lever. Section 37 lets the Authority issue directions binding on all concerned, Section 38(1) lets it impose penalty or interest, and Section 63 exposes a promoter who defies the Authority's order to a daily penalty that can cumulatively reach five per cent of the estimated project cost.
How do I put the builder on notice so the thirty days start running?
With a dated written notice that names each defect, cites Section 14(3), demands rectification within thirty days and reaches an address the promoter cannot disown. It should carry the flat and the project's K-RERA registration number, the handover date with the possession letter attached, each defect by location with dated photographs, an engineer's report for anything structural or involving seepage, and a statement that on failure you will seek directions and compensation before K-RERA. For a common-area defect the association should send its own notice through the Board of Managers in the same week.
- Collect the possession letter, the agreement for sale with its specification schedule, and the project's K-RERA registration number.
- Photograph every defect with a date, then have a civil or structural engineer inspect and write a report that states the cause, not only the condition.
- Send the notice by registered post with acknowledgment due and by email, to the registered office named in the agreement and to the promoter address on the project's K-RERA page.
- Diary the thirtieth day. Give access for inspection and repair, and confirm every visit and every promise in writing the same day.
- If nothing happens, or the repair is cosmetic, have the engineer record what remains and obtain two repair quotations so the loss is quantified.
- File Form N with K-RERA for a direction and a penalty, or Form O with the adjudicating officer for compensation, or a consumer complaint, choosing the forum before you file.
Common mistake. Treating the association's WhatsApp group, a site visit by the builder's engineer or a promise on the phone as notice. None of them proves a date. Section 14(3) rewards the owner whose notice can be produced with its postal acknowledgment.
The builder has ignored the notice: where do I complain?
K-RERA first, choosing between the Authority and the adjudicating officer by what you want. Section 31 lets any aggrieved person, expressly including the association of allottees, complain to either, and the Karnataka Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Rules 2017 split the two. Rule 29 sends a complaint about a violation of the Act to the Authority in Form N. Rule 30 sends a claim for compensation under Sections 12, 14, 18 and 19 to the adjudicating officer in Form O. Each carries a fee of rupees one thousand, by demand draft in the rule's words. Form O also requires a declaration that the matter is not pending before any other court, authority or tribunal. Directions and penalties are the Authority's territory, money the adjudicating officer's. An award that goes unpaid is recoverable from the promoter as arrears of land revenue under Section 40(1), and either side may appeal to the Appellate Tribunal within sixty days of receiving the order under Section 44(2), extendable for sufficient cause.
The consumer commission runs in parallel and you may choose it instead. Section 88 of RERA and Section 100 of the Consumer Protection Act 2019 each keep the other law alive, and in Imperia Structures v Anil Patni, decided on 2 November 2020, the Supreme Court held that Section 79 of RERA bars only civil courts, that the consumer remedy remained an additional remedy after RERA, and that the allottee has the choice. A defect is a deficiency under Section 2(11) of the 2019 Act, any fault, imperfection, shortcoming or inadequacy in the quality, nature and manner of performance required by law or undertaken under a contract. The District Commission hears claims up to the current pecuniary limit of fifty lakh rupees. The clock is the difference: Section 69 bars a complaint filed more than two years after the cause of action arose unless the delay is condoned for sufficient cause. The mechanics are in the guide on how to file a consumer complaint. Do not run both forums for the same relief, because each asks you to declare that the matter is pending nowhere else.
One situation freezes everything. Once the promoter's company is admitted into insolvency, the moratorium under Section 14 of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code stops proceedings against it. K-RERA's full bench, on 14 July 2026, disposed of six complaints against Ozone Urbana Infra Developers Pvt Ltd, among them claims of defects in common-area infrastructure, without deciding the merits because the NCLT Bengaluru bench had admitted the company on 10 June 2026, and reserved liberty under the Code. That route is in the guide on homebuyer rights when the builder is in insolvency.
The forum choice comes down to three rules.
Form N or Form O
Rule 29 sends a violation complaint to the Authority in Form N. Rule 30 sends a Section 14 compensation claim to the adjudicating officer in Form O. Each carries a fee of rupees one thousand.
Two-year consumer clock
Section 69 of the Consumer Protection Act 2019 bars a complaint filed more than two years after the cause of action arose, unless the delay is condoned for sufficient cause.
Insolvency freezes it
Once the promoter is admitted into insolvency, the moratorium halts K-RERA proceedings, as the Authority's full bench recorded on 14 July 2026 in the Ozone Urbana batch.
The sale deed says the warranty was only one year: does that bind me?
No. Section 89 gives the Act effect notwithstanding anything inconsistent in any other law, and Section 14(3) is a duty the statute imposes on the promoter, not a warranty he chose to give. A one-year clause cannot shorten a five-year statutory period, and the argument that you accepted it by signing runs into Pioneer Urban Land and Infrastructure v Govindan Raghavan, decided by the Supreme Court on 2 April 2019, which held that a term is not final and binding where the purchaser had no option but to sign on the dotted line of a builder-framed contract, and that one-sided clauses of that kind are an unfair trade practice.
The same answer meets the no dues, no claims letter many owners signed at handover. Section 14(3) attaches to a defect brought to notice within five years, and a crack that opened in year two is not a claim you could have given up in year zero. If you are yet to take possession, the Ask Me answer on registering before the amenities are finished shows how to record the shortfall instead of signing it away.
What it costs and how long it takes
The statutory fee is small and the evidence is the real spend. Form N and Form O each carry a fee of rupees one thousand under the 2017 Rules. An engineer's report is an indicative few thousand rupees for one flat and considerably more where core tests, thermal imaging or a structural audit of a common area are needed. Professional fees vary with the forum and the number of appearances. Section 71(2) sets a sixty-day target for the adjudicating officer and Section 44(2) a sixty-day window for the appeal, but actual disposal at K-RERA runs from several months to more than a year, and a consumer complaint typically takes a comparable or longer period.
What I tell clients is that these cases are won or lost on two documents, the handover letter and the engineer's report. The complaint that arrives the day after the thirty days lapse, with a dated notice, a postal acknowledgment and a report that states the cause, gets a direction. The one that arrives in year four with photographs, no notice and no report becomes an argument about whether the association should have maintained the thing. Where the defect is in a common area, a builder who can say nobody with standing wrote to him has been handed his defence, which is why the association's notice matters as much as yours. The firm's work in this area is described on the RERA and homebuyer disputes page and, for the parallel route, the consumer protection page.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does the five-year period run from registration of the sale deed or from possession?
From the date of handing over possession, which is the phrase Section 14(3) uses. The proviso to Section 11(4)(a) confirms the responsibility survives the conveyance deed, so registration neither starts nor ends the period.
I bought the flat in resale two years after the first owner took possession. Can I still claim?
Yes. Section 2(d) defines an allottee to include a person who subsequently acquires the allotment through sale or transfer. The five years still count from the original handover, so you have what remains of them.
The builder says the association is responsible for the leaking terrace. Is that right?
Only for routine maintenance. A terrace is a common area under Section 2(n) of RERA and Section 3(f) of the Karnataka Apartment Ownership Act 1972, and the association maintains it, but a construction defect notified within five years is the promoter's to rectify under Section 14(3), and the association itself may complain under Section 31.
Can the builder charge me for the repair or ask me to sign a no-claims letter first?
No. Section 14(3) says rectify without further charge, and a condition that you give up other claims is the kind of one-sided term the Supreme Court refused to enforce in Pioneer Urban. Record the demand in writing and refuse it in writing.
Do I need an engineer's report before sending the notice?
The section does not require one, but a report that states the cause of the defect is what defeats the wear-and-tear and owner-alteration defences. For cracks and seepage, get it before the notice so the notice can rely on it.
Should I go to K-RERA or the consumer commission?
K-RERA can direct rectification and penalise non-compliance, and its adjudicating officer awards compensation on Form O. The consumer commission awards compensation for deficiency under a two-year limitation. Pick one forum for one relief, because both ask you to declare that the matter is pending nowhere else.
What if the builder does a cosmetic repair and the crack comes back?
He has not rectified the defect. Have the engineer record the recurrence, send a second notice referring to the first, and treat the thirty days as having expired, because the duty is to cure the defect, not to hide it for a season.
The builder's company is in NCLT. Can K-RERA still order repairs?
Not while the moratorium under Section 14 of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code runs. K-RERA's full bench disposed of the Ozone Urbana batch on 14 July 2026 on exactly that ground, reserving liberty. Your claim then goes to the resolution professional as a creditor's claim.
This article is for general informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. Consult a qualified advocate for advice on your specific situation.
