ALL YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT NEW REALTY LAW

Real Estate Act came into force on May 1 to protect homebuyers from unscrupulous developers. No new projects can be started without RERA registration.

New law makes it mandatory for all builders — developing a project where the land exceeds 500 square metre — to register with RERA before launching or even advertising their project. Developers have been given time until July 31 to register.

Not doing so will invite up to a maximum imprisonment of 3 years or fine of up to 10% of the total project cost.

Developers will have to submit as well as upload project details, including approved layout plan, timeline, cost, and the sale agreement, that prospective buyers will have to sign to the proposed regulator.

Only developers who fulfill this disclosure clause would be permitted to advertise their project to prospective buyers.

Real Estate Appellate Tribunals to be set up in every state.

As of now, the real estate sector was largely unregulated in India. If a consumer had a complaint against a developer they had to make rounds of consumer or civil courts. Now, in case of any grievance, the consumer can go to the real estate regulator for redressal.

Developers will have to put 50% of the money collected from a buyer in a separate account to meet the construction cost of the project. This will put a check to the general practice by developers to divert buyer’s money to start a new project instead of finishing the one for which money was collected. This will ensure that construction is completed on time.

The law is likely to stabilise housing prices. It will lead to enhanced activity in the sector, leading to more housing units supplied to the market.

It will weed out fly-by-night operators from the sector and channelise investment into it. Builders will also benefit as the law has penal provisions for allottees who do not pay dues on time.

The builder can also approach the regulator in case there is any issue with the buyer.

NOIDA: The Real Estate (regulation and development) Act, 2016, touted to safeguard interest of home buyers, came into force in the state, including Noida and Greater Noida on Monday.

Developers, home buyers as well as officials, however, continued to remain sceptical about the implementation and efficacy of the act, as a Real Estate Regulatory Authority (RERA) had not yet been put in place.

The Uttar Pradesh government has not constituted a RERA and appointment of staff is yet to start. The Centre had set May 1, 2017 as the deadline for RERA to be set up in various states.

As per the act, a developer cannot sell property in realty project without RERA registration .

“The act has come into force but there is no RERA. So, where will we register our projects. Nobody in the Noida authority or state government has told us how to proceed,” said a developer.

In Noida, 86 group housing projects have been delayed by three to four years due to a slowdown in the realty sector, affecting around one lakh buyers who had invested in projects that were to be delivered by 2012. In Greater Noida, around 3.5 lakh home buyers are yet to get possession of flats that were to be delivered to them from 2012.

As per the act, ongoing unfinished realty projects will have to be registered with RERA.

“The UP government should look into the issue and constitute a RERA at the earliest. Chief minister Yogi Adityanath should recruit the required staff without delay, else the act will mean nothing to us because it will not make any difference,” said SK Nagrath, president of Jaypee Aman Flat Buyers Association.

Many developers claimed that their projects were already governed by RERA rules.

“We have already imposed regulation on our realty projects as suggested by RERA rules. We have delivered our projects on time and would continue to do so. We will register our under-construction projects with RERA once the body is formed,” said RK Arora, chairman-cum-managing director of Supertech Group.

The Noida authority said it will not allow new project to start till RERA rules are executed.

Haryana still weeks away from RERA

THOUGH THE ACT CAME INTO FORCE ON MONDAY, IT WAS NOTIFIED BY ONLY 13 STATES AND UNION TERRITORIES ACROSS THE COUNTRY.

GURGAON: Homebuyers in Haryana will have to wait a while before the regulations under the much-awaited Real Estate Regulatory Act (RERA) 2016, are made binding on the builders.

The state government recently brought the draft rules under RERA into the public domain inviting feedback and suggestions from residents.

Though the Act came into force on Monday, it was notified by only 13 states and union territories across India. The RERA aims to bring more transparency, and accountability in the housing sector that has been plagued by various ills particularly projects delays and non-delivery.

The Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Bill, 2016 was passed in March last year. It has 92 sections and all of these will apply in states where the Act has been notified.

Haryana is likely to implement RERA in the month of June, as the government notified and uploaded the draft rules of the Act on the website of the department of town and country planning on April 28. It also requested the residents to post their feedback by May 15 after which the issues raised by them would be scrutinised and the final draft will be approved and sent to the government for implementation.

Once the draft is notified, the government will appoint an authority which will regulate the real estate sector in the state.

Dilbag Sihag, the former chief town planner, who played a key role in drafting the RERA rules, said that the government has followed a balanced approach to ensure there is unhindered growth of the real estate sector.

A senior government official of the town and country planning department, who asked not to be named, said that RERA could be implemented by the first week of June after a scrutiny of the feedback. “The issues pertaining to buyers would be resolved,” he said.

While the government officials assure that the things would significantly improve once the RERA is implemented, the buyers are not very enthused. After going through the draft rules, a large number of buyers alleged that the state government had diluted the original Act, and was giving leeway to developers by not making the regulations binding on the ongoing building projects across the city.

In Gurgaon, there are hundreds of projects along Dwarka Expressway, Manesar, SPR (Southern Peripheral Road) and the Golf Course Extension Road which are delayed, incomplete or where developers have not handed possession to buyers as per the promises made while selling the projects.

The copy of the Draft bill of THE REAL ESTATE (REGULATION AND DEVELOPMENT) ACT, 2016can be downloaded from the following link:

http://www.indiacode.nic.in/acts-in-pdf/2016/201616.pdf