Rajasthan RERA serves notices to nine developers for violations

JAIPUR

After nearly one-and-a-half year, the Real Estate Regulatory Authority (RERA), Rajasthan, on Wednesday once again swung into action and issued notices to nine developers who were allegedly violating the norms.

The authority cancelled the registration of one project, while it issued show-cause notices to developers for advertising their projects without getting registered under the RERA (Rajasthan).

An official source said, “One developer who had proposed a project in Pratap Nagar near NRI colony has allegedly claimed that the land belongs to him. For the same, an affidavit was submitted, while registering the project at RERA. However, a complaint was received against the developer and during examination, it was proved that the land doesn’t belong to him and RERA cancelled the registration.”

To others notices were issued also under Section 35(1) of the RERA Act 2016 to builders for advertisement of project without prior registration. The authority has also directed these developers to stop such illegal actions immediately and explain in writing within seven days. “The developers violated the law as the advertisement, market, book, sale or offer for sale or invite person to purchase in any manner, any plot, apartment or building in the real estate project prior to registration of the sale under the said Act is prohibited,” said the source.

The authorities would impose penalty if these developers are found guilty. “In case the explanation is not submitted within given time, the authorities may take action,” said a source.

Source:https://realty.economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/regulatory/rajasthan-rera-serves-notices-to-nine-developers-for-violations/70068423

Appellate tribunal to be functional soon: Bihar RERA Chairman

PATNA

The appellate tribunal of Real Estate Regulatory Authority (RERA) in state will officially start functioning within the next 15-20 days, RERA (Bihar) chairman Afzal Amanullah said on Tuesday.

Amanullah said the appellate tribunal is headed by Justice (retd) Arun Kumar with two more members. He said the real estate buyers or builders unsatisfied with the RERA judgement can appeal to the tribunal.

Amanullah said all the ongoing registered projects will have to complete their construction work by December 2020. “Of total 654 registered real estate projects, 50% are new,” he said.

“Besides, the accounts and finance team of RERA will now keep a tab on the accounts of builders to ensure that all the money invested by the consumers is being used for that project only. About 70% of the amount realized from the consumers shall be deposited in a separate bank account to be solely used for the particular project,” he said and added: “Builders failing to follow the norms will be penalized.”

Highlighting the achievements of RERA, its member Rajiva Bhushan Sinha said when it came into existence in Bihar in April 2018, only a handful of projects were registered. “Now more than 1,100 builders have applied for registration. Total 438 complaints have been received in the last one year and 322 of them are in the hearing stages while judgement has been delivered in 70 cases,” he said.

RERA member Subodh Kumar Sinha said, “We are not only helping the buyers, but also the builders in getting loan from the banks and meeting other construction-related requirements.”

Source: https://realty.economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/regulatory/appellate-tribunal-to-be-functional-soon-bihar-rera-chairman/70155355

Lt Governor launches Delhi RERA portal

NEW DELHI

Lt Governor Anil Baijal Monday lunched the official portal of RERA Delhi and saying it will promote transparency and accountability in the real estate sector. The Government of India has implemented the Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act 2016, RERA, to check malpractices in the sector. The Act came into force on May 1, 2017.

“Launched official portal of RERA, Delhi (www.rera.delhi.gov.in). The website will help promote transparency & accountability in real estate sector. Advised to provide an interactive forum for knowledge sharing with other RERAs… I congratulate the RERA team for the initiative,” the L-G tweeted after the launch.

The RERA Act aims to reform the real estate sector in the country, encouraging greater transparency, citizen centricity, accountability and financial discipline.

Source: www.realty.economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/industry/lt-governor-launches-delhi-rera-portal/69966899

Minimum registration fees down by MahaRERA, rural areas to benefit

Pune

The Maharashtra Real Estate Regulatory Authority (MahaRERA) has reduced the minimum registration fees from Rs 50,000 to Rs 10,000 for projects that will enable smaller units, especially in the rural areas, to come under its purview.

The change has been effected in accordance with the amended rules issued by the Maharashtra Housing Department on June 6, MahaRERA officials said.

With the prescribed rate of Rs10 per square metre and the minimum area of plot under RERA being 500 square metre, the minimum charge reduction would ensure that developers with smaller projects are encouraged to register with MahaRERA and no longer pay a blanket charge of Rs50,000, the officials said.

“Many cities, other than the metropolitans, have several small projects that may be spread over a little more than 1,000 sq metre or 1,200 sq metre. If these developers had to register their projects, they would have to pay Rs50,000 irrespective of the area. But the reduced minimum charges would encourage such developers to come forward and register their projects,” a senior MahaRERA official said.

MahaRERA completed two years of its implementation in May this year. The officials said over 21,000 projects have been registered in the state, the maximum in the country. Following this, the authorities have taken initiative to ensure more registrations and have more developers under MahaRERA’s purview.

“In the first and second year of the implementation of the rules, it was noticed that most of the registrations came from the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR) and from cities such as Pune and Nagpur. Not many registrations came from the rural areas of the state. This year, our main focus is to penetrate into these areas,” the MahaRERA official said, as he elaborated the need for the amendments.

The changed rules have also reduced the fees for plotted developments, a move that will bring more projects from the rural areas under MahaRERA. In case of plotted development, the promoters have to pay an extended fee calculated on the area of the land proposed to be developed at the rate of Rs5 per sq meter.

Consumer forums, which have been urging MahaRERA to go ahead with these amendments, said the recent changes in the rules regarding registration of projects were done keeping in mind the ground realities. “Till the other day, the rules had not defined plotted development though RERA also covered plotted developments. Through this amendment, the definition of the plotted development has been added to the MahaRERA rules,” Mumbai Grahak Panchayat president Shirish Deshpande said. He added that bringing down the rate for plotted development from Rs10 to Rs5 per sq metre was “realistic”.

Besides, the conveyance to be done by the promoter is within three months since the arrival of the occupation certificate. The amended rules do not give the developers any options for delay.

“The earlier rule stated that the promoters have to give conveyance once 50% of the homebuyers paid full consideration or within one month from the formation of the society or within three months from the date of occupancy certificate, whichever earlier. This was impractical. The MGP had taken this up with the authorities while framing the original rules. But it was not considered then. However, the amended rules state that the conveyance has to be done within three months from the date of occupation certificate. It makes sense,” Deshpande said.

Confederation of Real Estate Developers Association of India, vice-president Shantilal Kataria said the reduction of minimum fees for registration will benefit the tier two, three and four cities and encourage more developers to register with MahaRERA. He, however, said the conveyance period of three months should have been six months.

Source: www.realty.economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/regulatory/minimum-registration-fees-down-by-maharera-rural-areas-to-benefit/69765872

UP-RERA spots 57 rogue residential projects on outskirts of Lucknow

Lucknow

Take all reasonable precautions before buying your dream house or apartment on the outskirts of Lucknow.

The UP Real Estate RegulatoryAuthority (UPRERA) has identified 57 apartments and housing colonies that have been developed without requisite permission from local authorities and any investment in these projects is not safe, officials have warned.

Satellite images taken by the Remote Sensing Centre (RSC), which on the request of UPRERA is carrying out a survey, have helped identify these rogue projects. So far, the centre has completed 70% survey and identified the 57 along Faizabad, Sultanpur and Sitapur roads. Survey in remaining areas will be completed by the end of June.

The inspection was commissioned in March after two allottees of a housing project lodged a complaint regarding the registration money taken by a builder on Sitapur road. According to Section 13 of the RERA Act, a buyer has to pay 10% of the apartment/house value as registration money. The complainant claimed that the builder was charging 15% instead.

Chairman of UPRERA Rajive Shukla said they later came to know of more than 150 cases in which builders had asked for more registration money. “We also received complaints about builders disappearing after taking the allotment money. That is when we decided to conduct the survey,” he added.

Sources in UPRERA said developers of the 57 rogue projects would be served notices, asking them to seek registration from local authorities such as LDA or zila panchayat, and fullfill all fire safety norms. They will also be directed to return extra money if registration fee charged was more than the prescribed 10% of the apartment value.

Source: www.realty.economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/regulatory/up-rera-spots-57-rogue-residential-projects-on-outskirts-of-lucknow/69765435

UP-RERA to issue show-cause notice to builders with stuck projects

New Delhi

Uttar Pradesh Real Estate Regulatory Authority (UP-RERA) has decided that if there is no progress in completion of the residential projects, the authority will issue show cause notice to deregister their projects.

It further said that the notice will also be issued if the builder fails to deliver projects, fails to show his keenness to deliver flats, if the builder does not resume construction and is absconding or in jail.

The authority in the last few days has issued deregistration notices under Section 7 of the RERA Act to seven builders for failing to meet their commitments to buyers covering 14 projects and approx. 4800 residential units.

Their matter is still under active consideration at various stages.

UP-RERA has also sent notices to many developers over bad construction quality and project delays.

Under RERA Act 2016, Section 8 provides an indication that the Authority can provide a platform to take up stressed projects and bring them to completion.

Source: www.realty.economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/regulatory/up-rera-to-issue-show-cause-notice-to-builders-with-stuck-projects/69485164

MahaRERA: No advertisement expenses in construction costs

Amendments made to the Maharashtra RERA rules stipulate that real estate developers can no longer claim expenses made on advertisements and promotions, as well as brokerage commissions as part of their construction costs.

According to RERA regulations, developers are required to deposit 70 per cent of the funds collected from home buyers in a separate RERA account. These funds can only be withdrawn for construction with appropriate certification from the architect and the chartered account. This was done to check the practice by developers to collect booking amounts and flat sales from home buyers and moving them to another project, often stalling the first project.

“The development cost or cost of construction of the project shall not include marketing and brokerage expenses towards sale of apartments. Such expenses though part of the project cost should not be borne from the amount that is required to be deposited in the designated separate account,’ said a notification issued by the state housing department on June 6.

‘Developers often show expenses for full-page ads also in this account. Now, those marketing expenses have to be shown in the remaining 30 per cent. For home buyers, it means that more money will available for completion of housing projects,’ said Gautam Chatterjee, chairperson, MahaRERA.

The notification has also reduced the minimum fee that developers need to deposit with MahaRERA at the time of registration of a project from Rs 50,000 to Rs 10,000 for plotted developments. Earlier, developers had to pay between Rs 50,000 and Rs 10 lakh as per the area of the land proposed to be developed at the rate of Rs 10 per sqm. Now, for plotted development, the registration fee will be calculated at the rate of Rs 5 per sqm.

The notification also gives brokers and real estate agents an opportunity to lodge complaints with MahaRERA against developers if their commission or fee was unpaid. “If there is a broker or real estate agent involved in the transaction between the developer and a home buyer, then his commission or brokerage from developer’s side or the buyer’s side should be paid to him as per agreed terms of payment. We have now included this in the RERA’s model form of agreement and brokers can lodge a complaint with MahaRERA and the authority will give them a hearing,’ Chatterjee said.

The new rules received mixed responses from the construction industry. While it was agreed that the amendments were consumer-friendly, questions were raised on the impact they have on incomplete projects.

Reacting to the amendments, Rohit Poddar, Managing Director, Poddar Housing and Development Ltd said, ‘The decision to eliminate the marketing and brokerage expenses from the cost of development is a good move from a consumer’s point of view. However, it should be subject to scrutiny whether it will have any direct impact on the prices for end consumers. Advertising, marketing, and brokerage costs are a part and parcel of the project cost, and it is recommended that they are included in the project cost, especially for the affordable segment.’

Rajan Bandelkar, President of National Real Estate Development Council (NAREDCO), Maharashtra said, “The amendment is likely to impact the unsold inventory. How does the developer sell these without including the marketing costs in the construction cost?”

Ameya Tandulkar, Chief Operating Officer at Paradigm Realty said, ‘The RERA Act clearly mentions that marketing costs should not be included in the 70 per cent funds meant for construction. This account was always meant to pay for land cost, construction cost, premiums for fungible FSI, and administrative costs incurred by the developer. I think the amended rule only reiterates that developers should not include marketing costs.”

Amit Wadhwani, Co-Founder, Sai Estate Consultants Chembur Private Limited (SECCPL) said, “RERA is definitely paving the way for a transparent sector.”

Source: www.realty.economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/industry/maharera-no-advertisement-expenses-in-construction-costs/69781792

Maharashtra Real Estate Rules 06.06.2019

MahaRERA now opens execution tabs during appeal process

Earlier, MahaRERA website had an inactive tab which prevented a home buyer from filing an online application for non-execution till the 60-day mandated period for appeal was over.

Home buyers who get favourable orders from the Maharashtra Real Estate Regulatory Authority (MahaRERA) will now be able to file online applications for non-execution of these orders even during the 60-day period granted to the developer to proffer an appeal with the Maharashtra Real Estate Appellate Tribunal (MREAT).

Earlier, MahaRERA website had an inactive tab which prevented a home buyer from filing an online application for non-execution till the 60-day mandated period for appeal was over. However, following a writ petition filed by a 69-year-old Kandivali home buyer in the Bombay High Court, MahaRERA has now changed this process, and made the tab for non-execution active. As a result, home buyers will be able to file for non-execution while the developer’s appeal pending or is being heard by the Appellate Tribunal.

“Yes, we have changed that process. Now, we have made the tab active so that the home buyers would be able to file application for non-execution even while the appeal process is on, but we will hear the application only after the mandated 60-day period is over and after checking the status of the appeal with the Tribunal,” said Gautam Chatterjee, chairperson of MahaRERA.

69-year-old Baheti had booked a flat in Kandivali East in May 2015 with the promise of possession by December 31, 2015. When the developer failed to deliver and revised the date to 2023, she filed a complaint with MahaRERA seeking a refund.

In November 2018, MahaRERA asked the developer to refund Rs 6.84 lakh with 10.5 per cent interest. The developer filed an online appeal, but did not deposit the statutory 30 per cent of the refund amount without which the appeal would not be entertained by the Tribunal. When Baheti tried to file for non-execution, the tab on MahaRERA portal remained inactive even after mandated 60 days. Aggrieved by this, she decided to file a writ petition.

“The developer will neither remove the defects in the appeal nor pay the statutory 30 per cent amount and will delay the matter. Further the developer is in a win win situation as the petitioner cannot file an appeal,” her petition said.

Advocate Tanuj Lodha, who represents Baheti, execution pending appeal cannot be denied, unless there is a stay order in Appeal. “The procedure of making online “Non execution of Order” tab inactive on mere filing of an online Appeal (without depositing minimum 30% statutory amount) is being used as a mischief to frustrate the aggrieved homebuyers,” said Lodha.

Meanwhile, MahaRERA has also taken note of more than 176 recovery orders issued against non-complying developers still pending with the District Collectors, and decided to periodically review the pendency and facilitate its implementation. “We had a meeting of all MahaRERA members, and it was decided that we should periodically review the pending recovery orders, and take appropriate decisions,” MahaRERA member Vijay Satbir Singh said.

Source: https://realty.economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/regulatory/maharera-now-opens-execution-tabs-during-appeal-process/69606692

RERA tightens land market in Rajasthan

JAIPUR

The Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act, 2016 (RERA) has tightened the noose on regulated market in the state, but illegal business of non-regularised plotted colonies on agricultural land, continues to flourish in the state capital, leaving many home buyers in a fix.

Many buyers continue to invest their hard-earned money in these housing schemes without realizing that all their savings may go down the drain. At the time of selling plots, the dealers and their agents lure the home buyers with various facilities such as spacious parks, green belt, potable drinking water, well-constructed roads, sewerage facilities and power connections. Once the plots are sold, the dealers vanish leaving people at the mercy of the agents.

Moreover, these developers do not develop colonies as per norms. Bharat Jain, a victim, said, “As per the initial proposal of the colony, the developer had promised that 60% area of the total land is allotted for plots and the remaining 40% for facilities like parks, roads, community hall etc. In my colony, in Beelwa near Tonk Road in zone 14, the developer duped the customers as 80% of the area is being utilised for plots to earn money. In some plots there is no space left for the construction of roads.”

Jain is not the only one, many people approach Jaipur development authority (JDA) to complain about such colonies. But nothing much can be done as these colonies are not approved by the civic body. A JDA official said, “The illegal colonies have sprung up in large numbers near the Ring Road project. The developers issue lease deeds on newly purchased agricultural land in connivance with the civic body and administrative officials. The maximum colonies have come up in zones that fall outside the city.”

For the regularised market, the urban development and housing (UDH) department has implemented RERA to check the authenticity of housing projects and to ensure that developers fulfill their commitments.

Source: https://realty.economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/industry/rera-tightens-land-market-in-rajasthan/69511907

Show list of builders with escrow accounts: Buyers to UP-RERA

NOIDA

Homebuyers on Tuesday submitted a letter to the Greater Noida Authority and the Uttar Pradesh Real Estate Regulatory Authority (UP-Rera), asking them to make public the names of builders who have opened escrow accounts with the money deposited by investors. The move comes as buyers feel that many builders have not started this financial practice to protect their rights.

“We have written letters to both Greater Noida Authority and UP-Rera, asking them to disclose the names of all such builders with escrow accounts, on the website of UP-Rera for the sake of transparency,” co-founder of Noida Extension Flat Owners Welfare Association (Nefowa) Indrish Gupta told TOI.

The buyers’ group claimed, in its letter, that over the past few months they received complaints from various buyers on the issue of projects which are incomplete and where builders seem to have diverted funds.

“There are over 50-60 projects which are stalled. However, these builders have been taking payments from buyers and most of them have overstepped UP-Rera completion deadline. So, we have asked the regulatory authority to disclose an update on the status of the buyers’ funds with these builders,” Shweta Bharati, general secretary of Nefowa, said.

According to UP-Rera, over 700 builders in Noida and Greater Noida have overstepped completion headlines, with over 100 more expected to follow suit in the next three months.

“We just want to ensure that despite delays, the buyers’ funds are protected,” Gupta added.

When contacted, a GNIDA official said, “Buyers’ requests on the matter will be considered and they can find seek necessary answers from UP-Rera.”

Source: https://realty.economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/residential/show-list-of-builders-with-escrow-accounts-buyers-to-up-rera/69335097