Developers are providing an extended warranty to retain customer confidence.

Real estate is one of those industries where product assurance remains in question until the Real Estate (RERA) Act (Regulation and Development) made it mandatory for all projects in 2017. In some of the major real estate markets, quality construction is still a value proposition, with buyers willing to pay a premium, for return for quality assurance. Nevertheless, home buyers are barely aware of the structural defects and incompetence covered by the warranties, as well as the things they have to shell out extra money for.

RERA’s defect liability clause:

Under Section 14(3) of the Real Estate Act, a developer is entitled to fix any defects that a home buyer may carry to his attention, until five years after the possession has been given, without paying any fee for it. In fact, the developer will need to fix the issue within 30 days. In the case that the developer refuses to adhere, a home buyer may apply to receive compensation under the Act. Earlier, many developers used to keep the time period for fixing defects to as low as two years in their sales agreements.

Developers offering extended warranties:

While the developer should do this at least, some premium builders go the extra mile to woo home buyers by focusing on quality at a nominal cost. Gera Developments recently issued a seven-year warranty for home buyers, extending the five-year period of the RERA by two years. The extended warranty will be given at a surcharge. The five-year warranty covered repair or re-fixing of manufacturing defect fittings or machinery, other defects such as leakage etc. Annual preventive maintenance is also included too, which requires a team of carpenters, plumbers and electricians to track for any fixes and do whatever is required. All of these features are elongated to a 7-year warranty as well. The warranty is going to be serviced by the Gera World app so that complaints are tracked easily and the turnaround times for warranty and maintenance requests in the common area are reduced.

“It reflects our commitment to delight our customers with innovative solutions, not only as confirmation of the quality of our products. The extended warranty offers more customer tranquillity and therefore enhanced consumer trust. Rohit Gera, managing director, Gera Developments points out that the warranty held our attention on product quality firmly and strengthened our response to our customers.”