Winning before MahaRERA sometimes turns out to be the semi-final. The builder appeals, and buyers who fought a year for an order face a fresh forum with fresh acronyms. The good news sits in one clause most buyers have never read: to appeal your refund, the builder must first deposit your money with the tribunal. Here is how the Maharashtra Real Estate Appellate Tribunal works, from either side of an order.
Key takeaways
- Appeals from MahaRERA orders go to MREAT within 60 days (Section 44); either side may appeal.
- A promoter's appeal is entertained only after pre-deposit: at least 30 percent of penalties, or the full amount payable to the allottee with interest for refund-type orders (Section 43(5) proviso, upheld by the Supreme Court).
- The pre-deposit converts many appeals from delay tactics into secured funds; buyers should invoke it in writing on day one.
- Beyond MREAT, only questions of law travel to the High Court, so the tribunal is where most cases genuinely end.
The forum map
| Forum | Who appears | Timeline discipline | What it decides |
|---|---|---|---|
| MahaRERA authority / adjudicating officer | You, usually without a lawyer | Complaint to order in months; 6,945 disposed in 2025 | Facts and remedies: interest, refunds, directions, penalties |
| MREAT (appellate tribunal) | Both sides, lawyers common | Appeal within 60 days of the order | Full re-examination; promoter appeals gated by pre-deposit |
| High Court (Section 58) | Rare, counsel required | 60 days, questions of law only | Legal questions, not fact re-fights |
The clause that changes everything: 43(5)
The proviso to Section 43(5) says a promoter's appeal shall not be entertained without first depositing at least 30 percent of the penalty, or, where the order requires payment to an allottee, the total amount payable including interest and compensation. The Supreme Court upheld the rule squarely in the Newtech case, rejecting the argument that it discriminates against promoters, and MREAT has applied it firmly, in one reported matter requiring deposit of amounts received from both the homebuyer and their financier bank.
An analogy: appealing a cricket dismissal costs a team its review if wrong; appealing with nothing at stake would produce infinite reviews. Parliament priced the builder's review at the disputed money itself. The effect is structural: a promoter with a weak case and a cash crunch, the classic profile behind delay disputes, can no longer buy two years of delay with a filing fee. Either your money gets deposited with the tribunal, secured whatever happens next, or the appeal dies at the threshold.
Practical move for buyers: when you receive the builder's appeal, your first response, before any merits, is a written objection asking the tribunal to enforce the 43(5) deposit. It is not automatic paperwork; it is your leverage, and tribunals act on it.
Appealing as a buyer
Sometimes the shoe is on the other foot: relief granted but interest miscomputed, compensation refused, a claim dismissed on a technicality. Buyers appeal to MREAT with no pre-deposit burden, the same 60-day clock, and a realistic checklist:
- Appeal the order, not the disappointment. MREAT re-examines what was pleaded and proved below; new stories fare poorly. This is why the original complaint's arithmetic matters so much.
- Mind the calendar ruthlessly. Sixty days from receipt, condonation discretionary. Diarise it the day the order arrives.
- Weigh interest-during-appeal. For money orders, prescribed interest generally keeps running, which quietly compensates buyers for appellate time and pressures promoters to settle.
- Consider partial acceptance. Executing the granted portion while appealing the refused portion is often available and usually wise; ask counsel to structure it.
Keep executing while the appeal breathes. An order not stayed is an order enforceable: if the promoter appeals without obtaining a stay (and without the deposit, they rarely get one), your execution and recovery track continues. Appeals suspend arguments, not necessarily your money's journey.
Suresh and Kavita's second year
Our illustrative Pune-bound retirees won Rs 9.4 lakh in delay interest; the promoter appealed on the last permissible day. Their one-page response invoked 43(5). The tribunal declined to take up the appeal without deposit; the promoter, needing six weeks to find the money, deposited the full amount, and having parted with it, promptly settled: possession plus the deposited sum released. The appeal that was filed to buy time ended, because of one clause, as an escrow of their winnings.
The pattern to internalise: the appellate stage rewards buyers whose paper trail was strong from the start, agreement, payments, the project's filing history as archived evidence. The Rs 499 ReraGenie buyer report preserves exactly that record for any covered Maharashtra project, and buyers in live disputes keep it current with alerts at Rs 499 per 3 months. Sign up on ReraGenie before your case needs a history nobody archived.
The one-line summary
Sixty days, either direction, and the builder's appeal costs the disputed money upfront: know the clock, invoke the deposit, keep executing, and MREAT becomes the place weak appeals go to fund strong orders. Executing is its own stage with its own delays, run by the Collector rather than the tribunal: how recovery warrants turn an order into money.
This article is educational and not legal advice. For an appeal, engage counsel who practices before MREAT.
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