For thousands of homebuyers, obtaining a favourable order from the Haryana Real Estate Regulatory Authority (HRERA) is not the end of their struggle — it is the midpoint. What follows is often a second, largely invisible process: chasing compliance, restarting proceedings, and absorbing costs that never show up in any official disposal statistic. The following observations are drawn from experience appearing before HRERA, Gurugram.

RERA was enacted because the individual homebuyer was recognised as the weaker party in the real estate market. A framework built to protect that weaker party should progressively reduce the consumer's procedural burden as a dispute moves forward — but in practice, the burden often shifts rather than reduces: from the builder to the complaint, from the complaint to the order, and from the order to its enforcement, with the homebuyer carrying it at every stage.

Ten recurring barriers

1. Procedural complexity at filing — prescribed formats, paginated annexures, fee calculation, and proof of service, all before the matter is even listed.
2. A digital process that still ends in paper — filing begins online but is often completed only with physical hard copies submitted in person.
3. The thirty-day filing trap — once generated, the filing window is rigid, with no relaxation for holidays or genuine cause; missing it means starting over with a fresh complaint number.
4. An inconsistent advocate-registration process — representing a complainant can require an online registration step that doesn't always function smoothly.
5. Hidden costs beyond the filing fee — printing, courier, travel, and professional assistance stack up on top of a homebuyer often paying EMI and rent simultaneously.
6. Adjournments without scheduling discipline — when procedural flexibility consistently benefits the party already in default, it reinforces the imbalance the law was meant to correct.
7. The compliance gap after a favourable order — if the compliance period lapses without payment, the process doesn't move automatically into enforcement; the consumer must notice the default and act.
8. Execution as a second battle — enforcing an order already won requires certified copies, a fresh execution petition, another fee, and re-entering what looks procedurally like starting over.
9. One wrong, multiple proceedings — a single builder default can require separate proceedings for refund, interest, compensation and execution, even though the facts never change.
10. No transparency on builder compliance history — there is no easy public record of how often a promoter complies on time, or how many execution petitions are pending against them.

What you can do

• You are entitled to file a complaint without hiring a lawyer, though representation can help navigate the procedural steps above.
• Keep independent records of every compliance deadline HRERA sets — don't rely on the Authority to flag a default automatically.
• If a builder misses the compliance deadline after an order in your favour, be ready to move execution proceedings promptly rather than waiting.

Practical takeaway

None of this diminishes what HRERA has achieved since 2017 — a regulatory presence that simply didn't exist before, and thousands of complaints decided. But the real measure of a consumer protection regime isn't the number of orders it passes; it's how many homebuyers receive complete, timely relief without being drawn into a second, third, or fourth procedural battle to get what was already theirs.