Housing Finance Company (Reserve Bank) Directions, 2021 issued by the RBI on 17.02.2021

Housing Finance Company (Reserve Bank) Directions, 2021 issued by the RBI on 17.02.2021

88. Disbursement of housing loan to individuals linked to the stages of construction

88.1 Disbursal of housing loans sanctioned to individuals shall be strictly linked to the stages of construction of the housing projects/ houses and upfront disbursal shall not be made in case of incomplete/ under-construction/ green field housing project/ houses.

88.2 HFCs while introducing any kind of product shall take into account the customer suitability and appropriateness issues and also ensure that the borrowers/customers are made fully aware of the risk and liabilities under such products.

88.3 In cases of projects sponsored by Government/ Statutory Authorities, HFCs may disburse the loans as per the payment stages prescribed by such authorities, even where payments sought from house buyers are not linked to the stages of construction, provided such authorities have no past history of non-completion of projects.

88.4 HFCs shall desist from offering loan products involving servicing of the loan dues by builders/ developers etc. on behalf of the borrowers.

88.5 HFCs shall have in place a well-defined mechanism for effective monitoring of the progress of construction of housing projects and obtaining consent of the borrower(s) prior to release of payments to the builder/developer.

circular dated 09.07.2019 issued by the NHB,

 circular dated 09.07.2019 issued by the NHB, 

“3. Based on a review of the matter, HFCs are advised to desist from offering loan products involving servicing of the Loan dues by builders/ developers etc. on behalf of the borrowers. The prevalent products of HFCs, if any, should also be reviewed on the above lines. It is clarified that the above stipulation shall also be effected in cases wherein the HFC is yet to commence disbursements under the sanctioned cases.

Further, reference is also drawn to the Circular No.NHB(ND)/DRS/Policy Circular No.75/2016-17 dated July 01, 2016 whereby HFCs were again advised that disbursal of housing loans should be strictly linked to the stages of construction and no upfront disbursal should be made in case of incomplete/un-constructed projects. It is reiterated that disbursal of housing loans sanctioned to individuals should be closely linked to the stages of construction of the housing project/houses. In cases of projects sponsored by Government/Statutory Authorities, HFCs may disburse the loans as per the payment stages prescribed by such authorities, even where payments sought from house buyers are not linked to the stages of construction, provided such authorities have no past history of non-completion of projects.

HFCs should have in place a well-defined mechanism for effective monitoring of the progress of construction of housing projects and obtaining consent of the borrower(s)

prior to release of payments to the builder/ developer. Merely obtaining borrower consent and release of funds by the company without linkage to the stage of construction will be seen as dereliction of duty of the HFC.”

RBI circular dated 01.07.2015, pertaining to the issue of subvention schemes or “innovative housing loan schemes”

RBI circular dated 01.07.2015, pertaining to the issue of subvention schemes or “innovative housing loan schemes”. Paragraph 3 (d) (e) and (f) of the same which read as under:

“(d) It has been observed that some banks have introduced certain innovative Housing Loan Schemes in association with developers / builders, e.g. upfront disbursal of sanctioned individual housing loans to the builders without linking the disbursals to various stages of construction of housing project, Interest/EMI on the housing loan availed of by the individual borrower being serviced by the builders during the construction period/ specified period, etc. This might include signing of tripartite agreement between the bank, the builder and the buyer of the housing unit. These loans products are popularly known by various names like 80:20, 75:25 schemes

Such housing loan products are likely to expose the banks as well as their home loan borrowers to additional risks e.g. in case of dispute between individual borrowers and developers/builders, default/ delayed payment of interest/ EMI by the developer/ builder during the agreed period on behalf of the borrower, non-completion of the project on time etc. Further, any delayed payments by developers/ builders on behalf of individual borrowers to banks may lead to lower credit rating/ scoring of such borrowers by credit information companies (CICs) as information about servicing of loans get passed on to the CICs on a regular basis. In cases, where bank loans are also disbursed upfront on behalf of their individual borrowers in a lump-sum to builders/ developers without any linkage to stages of constructions, banks run disproportionately higher exposures with concomitant risks of diversion of funds.

Banks are advised that disbursal of housing loans sanctioned to individuals should be closely linked to the stages of construction of the housing project / houses and upfront disbursal should not be made in cases of incomplete /under-construction / green field housing projects.”