With property prices skyrocketing and Mumbai’s skyline constantly changing as one building after another gives way to redevelopment, a quieter crisis is unfolding behind the scenes—one that has left thousands of original homeowners stuck in legal limbo.

Over 6,000 redevelopment-related cases are currently pending before the Bombay High Court, many involving families who were promised new homes after their old buildings were torn down but are still waiting, sometimes for years.

The reason? A glaring gap in the law. Once a building is demolished, the original occupants—many of them senior citizens or middle-class families are no longer protected under the Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act (RERA), which governs homebuyers and developers. Since the rehabilitation portion of redevelopment projects doesn’t fall under RERA, these residents are left to fend for themselves.