Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP) Member of Parliament from Karnataka Rajeev Chandrasekhar has demanded a waiver on home loan interest. In his letter to Union Minister for Housing and Urban Affairs Hardeep Singh Puri he recommended waive off during the COVID-19 'force majeure' period. The letter was in reference to the meeting of the Central Advisory Council held on 29th April, constituted in accordance with the Real Estate Regulation and Development Act (RERA) guidelines. Notably, Puri is the sitting chairman of the advisory council.
As per a report in the news wire Press Trust of India, Chandrasekhar highlighted that some important decisions were taken pertaining to supporting the real estate sector including a six months extension for all active RERA registered projects due to the COVID-19 lockdown. Further, the unregistered projects should also be provided extension basis their merit.
Homebuyers interest should be protected
Moreover, the Rajya Sabha MP said that the interests of the homebuyers should also be protected in these extraordinary times of COVID-19 lockdown. Chandrasekhar added, "The interest part on the principal amount of the Loan during this COVID-19 force majeure period should be waived for the homebuyers. For no fault of the buyers, they need not pay both rent and Equated Monthly Installment (EMI)."
Notably, the 'Force Majeure' clause is a provision in contracts like the obligation to repay debt with interest that take care circumstances in which contractual performance becomes impossible or impractical due to unforeseen events like COVID-19 and are not within either party's control. He also added that extension for RERA registered projects for completion should be given for the actual lockdown period only and reiterated that residential projects should not be delayed.
