My cousin had booked a flat by paying an advance of Rs 2.96 lakhs. The cost of the flat is around 40 lakhs. However within 3 months of the booking, he died due to illness. We would now like to cancel the booking and have requested the builder to refund the deposit. Death certificate has already been submitted to the builder. Builder is however saying that 20% of the total value of the flat is earnest money deposit and cannot be refunded. My question is, is there any law of land to protest family members under the given circumstances. My cousin's widow would now have to suffer a loss of around 3 lakhs if the money is not refunded by the builder, which is very sad.
