The flat was supposed to be handed over last year. The lift still does not work. The developer has stopped answering calls. For a buyer in this position, the first question is not about the law. It is about where to go, and in what order. Bangladesh has several channels for a complaint against a developer, and they serve different purposes. Knowing which one fits the problem saves months.
Before going anywhere, gather the paper. The deed of agreement, every payment receipt, the bank transfer records, the RAJUK approval copy, the mutation papers, and every letter or message exchanged with the developer. Keep the originals safe and work from copies. A complaint without documents is a story. A complaint with documents is a case. Note the dates too: the promised handover date in the agreement, the date each payment was made, and the date the problem was first reported to the developer in writing. Those dates matter at every stage that follows.
Start with the developer, in writing
The first step is a written complaint to the developer itself. A letter or an email that states the problem, cites the clause in the agreement, and asks for a specific remedy by a specific date. Many disputes end here, because a developer that knows a buyer is keeping records will often act. If the developer is a member of the Real Estate and Housing Association of Bangladesh, the next step is REHAB itself.
REHAB runs a Customer Mediation Service Centre that takes written complaints from buyers against member developers. The centre investigates and tries to settle the matter through mediation, and REHAB has cancelled the membership of developers found guilty of serious misconduct. Mediation is faster than a court case, and it costs the buyer nothing but time. It only works, though, if the developer is a REHAB member. A buyer should check the membership directory before assuming this route is open.
The consumer rights hotline
The fastest official channel for most buyers is the Directorate of National Consumer Rights Protection. Its hotline is 16121, a toll-free number, and a complaint can also be filed through the directorate's website or the MyGov portal. The complaint must be filed within thirty days of the cause arising, so a buyer should not wait. The directorate's office sits in the TCB building at Kawran Bazar in Dhaka, where complaints are lodged with the Assistant Director on the eighth floor. The law behind it is the Consumer Rights Protection Act of 2009.
The directorate investigates and can fine a business it finds at fault. If a fine is imposed, the complainant receives 25 percent of it. That is not the point of the exercise for most flat buyers, who want a handover or a refund rather than a share of a fine, but it shows the directorate's decisions carry weight. The directorate has offices in every divisional city, so a buyer outside Dhaka can complain locally.
RAJUK, the anti-graft body and the courts
When the problem is about approvals, the authority to approach is RAJUK. A buyer can check whether a project has a valid approval, and can complain if a developer built beyond the approved plan. RAJUK has kept a complaint box for clients at its headquarters, and its chairman's office receives complaints about harassment in the approval process. An approval complaint is different from a payment complaint, and it should be framed that way: the question is whether the building matches what was approved.
For fraud, there is the Anti-Corruption Commission, which takes allegations on its hotline 106. And for the most serious cases, the courts remain open. A buyer can file a civil case for breach of the agreement, seeking a refund or compensation, and a criminal case can be filed where the facts show cheating, such as selling one flat to more than one buyer. Court cases take time and cost money, so they are usually the last step, not the first. A lawyer's advice before filing is worth having, because the right forum depends on the facts of the case.
What to keep from day one
The buyers who get results are the ones who kept records from the start. REHAB's own warning on 8 November, about share-based flat sales, underlines the same point: the association said about 40,000 buyers have been affected by unregulated share-based sales, and it called for no fundraising unless land ownership, registration, liabilities and project approvals are confirmed. That warning was about a particular kind of sale, but the advice inside it applies to every flat purchase. Check before paying, keep the paper, and complain in writing the moment something goes wrong.
A developer that does not deliver is not the buyer's fault. But a buyer who waits, who pays in cash without a receipt, or who never puts a complaint in writing, makes the problem harder to fix. The channels exist. The hotline is 16121. REHAB's mediation centre takes written complaints. RAJUK takes approval complaints. The courts take the rest. Use them in that order, and use them with the documents in hand.
Before booking any flat, read the guide to verifying a developer and the deed of agreement explainer. Both show the checks that stop a complaint from ever being needed.
