DLF customers gang up, pressurise developer to commit refund

CHENNAI: Customer pressure seemed to have got the better of India’s realty giant DLF. Nearly 300 such buyers, who have backed out of the company’s prestigious ‘Garden City’ project in Chennai, refused to leave its premises till they got a written assurance that their money would be paid back in full.

Consequently, DLF has assured them that the formal refund letter addressed individually to the exiters would be given by April first. In its communication dated March 28, 2009, DLF Southern Homes, the special purpose vehicle executing the project on Old Mahabalipuram Road, said "the process of full refund will commence from 1st April, 2009, and will be completed before 30 September, 2009. The priority of disbursement shall be based on the order of first exit letters received and will be intimated by 10th April 2009."

For over a year and more, problems for the country’s largest listed developer have only been mounting. It has been facing the ire of customers, who made bookings in the 3,493 apartment Garden City project on 53 acres, which marked the Gurgaon-based realty biggie’s maiden entry in the city.

Apparently, the total number of exiters from the project was pegged at 580 out of its existing base of 1,800 customers. DLF Southern Homes was to have given a letter outlining the timeline of refund for all the exiters. But that did not happen, provoking angry reactions from the exiters, who refused to leave DLF premises until they got one.

The buyers, who advanced payments, have organised themselves into a Google Group, constantly monitoring the builder’s progress. Last month, as part of the attempts to appease its customers, wanting to exit from the project, DLF had brought down the prices from Rs 2500 to Rs 2600 per sq ft against Rs 2800 to Rs 3200 per sq ft for its existing customers. For new customers, the basic price was fixed at Rs 2750 per sq ft.

But this too seems to have not made any headway. For, on Saturday evening, nearly 300 buyers converged at the DLF office, seeking a written assurance from the developer to refund their money paid as advance for the project.

Earlier this month, the realty major had expressed its commitment to complete the project on schedule. This was in the wake of reports about consumers shooting exit letters.

If delayed approvals triggered anxiety and panic among existing customers, DLF Southern Homes MD K K Raman allayed the fears stating that "the construction activity is in full swing and we are well on schedule. We are committed to hand over the homes by April to June 2011, as originally committed."

"We do not foresee any problem in adhering to the timelines as we are adequately capitalised," DLF ED J Subrahmanian further said.