TG RERA Fines Bentley Woods Promoter ₹98 Lakh Over Unregistered Villa Sales

The Telangana Real Estate Regulatory Authority (TG RERA) has imposed a penalty of ₹98 lakh on Ramesh Kumar Chabbra, the promoter of Chabbras Bentley Woods at Jeedimetla, for allegedly advertising and selling villas without registering the project with the authority.

In an order issued on August 24, TG RERA also directed the promoter to refund an advance payment of ₹20 lakh to a buyer within 30 days. The regulatory body restrained Chabbra from marketing Bentley Woods as a villa project, observing that the existing RERA registration had been granted solely for a plotted layout.

The regulatory action followed a complaint filed by a homebuyer, P Krishna Reddy. According to the complainant, the project was promoted as an integrated gated community of 44 villas spread across approximately 2.7 acres, featuring amenities such as a 7,100-square-foot clubhouse, a swimming pool, and round-the-clock security.

Reddy stated that he had booked a villa in the project for ₹3.8 crore and paid an advance amount of ₹20 lakh in October 2024. He further alleged discrepancies in the specifications, claiming the villa was initially represented as having 5,068 square feet of built-up area, which was later reduced to about 3,900 square feet, with the remaining area classified as a 30 percent open-space charge.

Chabbra disputed the allegations before the authority, arguing that individual permissions had been secured from the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) for plots measuring less than 500 square metres. He contended that these individual plots were exempt from registration under Section 3(2)(a) of the Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act.