Coronavirus pandemic | UP RERA, MahaRERA adjourn hearings until March 31

With the coronavirus outbreak causing major disruptions, the Uttar Pradesh RERA and MahaRERA on March 17 said they have decided to adjourn the hearing of all complaints until March 31.

“Due to the coronavirus pandemic, UP RERA has decided to adjourn the hearing of all complaints listed between March 18 to March 31, 2020, both at the Lucknow headquarters and the NCR regional offices,” UP RERA said in a public notice.

Rescheduled dates would be communicated soon, it said.

Homebuyers and real estate developers wanting to list urgent matters may write to Secretary, UP RERA, at contactuprera@up-rera.in, it said.

UP RERA will again review the situation at the end of the month before deciding to resume the court, it said.

MahaRERA also said in a public notice that all cases before it and the adjudicating officer shall be adjourned until March 31.

RERA Bihar has also decided to postpone all hearings of cases scheduled from March 16 to March 31, 2020, it said in a public notice on its website.

“Haryana RERA has also decided to postpone the hearing of all cases from March 18 until March 31, 2020, Dilbag Singh Sihag, member HRERA, Panchkula told Moneycontrol.

“The project/agent registration process is completely online. MahaRERA staff is allowed to work from home till further orders,” the notice said.

Real Estate (Regulation & Development) Act, 2016 (RERA) came into effect from May 1, 2017, and Maharashtra was the first state to implement it by setting up MahaRera. Midwifed by two governments – UPA II and the NDA II – between 2009 and 2016, the legislation was necessitated by the growing misery of tens of thousands of harried homebuyers.

Source: https://www.moneycontrol.com/news/business/real-estate/coronavirus-pandemic-up-rera-maharera-adjourn-hearings-until-march-31-5042981.html

K-RERA approaches state govt to approve model sales agreement

The Karnataka Real Estate Regulatory Authority (K-RERA) has approached the state’s housing department to finalise the model sales agreement as per central government rules.

The K-RERA that started functioning two years ago had faced delay in model sales agreement due to change in government and the absence of RERA chief in the state.

“The model sales agreement has been sent to the government and is expected to be notified soon. There were objections that has been looked into before sending to the state,” said MR Kamble, chairman K-RERA.

As per the model sales agreement on the K-RERA website, builders will have to convey the final carpet area to the buyer after the construction of the building is complete and the occupancy certificate is granted by the competent authority. “Builders will have the right to forfeit the booking amount in case of cancellation by home buyers but has to finish the project on timely manner,” it said.

For home buyers, the model agreement says that buyers can ask for refund if there is default on the part of the builder and stop the payment amongst other benefits.

The Karnataka government notified Karnataka Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Rules-2017 in the state gazette in July 2018 with the setting up of Karnataka RERA.

According to Anarock research, among all states and UTs across the country, RERA has been fairly pro-active in states such as Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra and Karnataka, among others. Individually, Karnataka RERA has seen 33% jump in project registration since October 2019 – from 2,906 projects registered in early October 2019 to nearly 3,871 projects as on date.

“Among the nature of complaints largely seen in Karnataka, late delivery of projects tops the list for which errant builders have been asked by concerned RERA authorities within the state to pay compensation to aggrieved homebuyers. Despite this, many such builders have failed comply. Hence, authorities have further directed their revenue department team to issue show cause notices to the errant builders for property attachment,” said Anuj Puri, chairman, Anarock Property Consultants.

As far as registering complaints and resolving them is concerned, as many as 3,950 complaints have been registered under Karnataka RERA till date (March 2020) out of which nearly 46% cases (or approx. 1,817 cases) have already been disposed of. Back in October 2019, the tally of disposed of cases was nearly 1,513 cases.

However, as far as disposing of complaints is concerned, Karnataka still lags far behind its immediate neighbour Maharashtra, where RERA has been significantly active. Out of the total 10,814 complaints registered under Maha RERA till date, a whopping 72% cases have already been disposed of by the concerned authorities.

Source: https://www.constrofacilitator.com/k-rera-approaches-state-govt-to-approve-model-sales-agreement/

MahaRERA tells Alamdar Infrastructure not to sell flats to protect tenant

Mumbai
After the representatives of a real estate firm repeatedly failed to appear before the Maharashtra Real Estate Regulatory Authority (MahaRERA), the company has been restrained from selling, accepting bookings or transferring any unsold flat in a project at Marine Lines till a complaint by a woman tenant of the redevelopment project is resolved.

According to the complaint filed by Pervin Bahadurji, she had surrendered her premises for the redevelopment of Marine Palace off Princess Street at Marine Lines and was allocated flat no. 2101on the 21st floor of the building with carpet area 1221.39 sqft by developer Alamdar Infrastructure Pvt Ltd.

As per an agreement signed on March 15, 2017, she was supposed to get possession within 42 months from the first commencement certificate. The developer had also agreed to pay rent to her for temporary alternative accommodation but the rent was stopped from March 19, 2019.

Advocate Avinash Pawar, appearing for Bahadurji, submitted that the commencement certificate (CC) issued by the planning authority showed 20th floor as the last floor in the building, which means that the developer was not permitted to construct the 21st floor where the flat has been promised. The complainant requested MahaRERA to direct the developer to execute a supplementary agreement for allotting her a flat on the 20th floor of the building.

According to the registration page of Marine Palace project, the completion date is November 11, 2025. Its latest CC, issued on September 25, 2019, and valid till May 11, 2020, mentions that the projection has permission to go up to 20th floor. Out of the 54 flats in the building, only 8 have been booked, as per data uploaded by the developer on the MahaRERA portal.

MahaRERA member Bhalchandra Kapadnis noted that despite several notices served on Alamdar Infrastructure Pvt Ltd, the developer has not appeared for hearings to inform whether any unsold flat is available in Marine Palace which could be allocated to Bahadurji. He also took note of Bahadurji’s apprehension that unless the developer is prevented from selling flats, she won’t be allocated a flat.

Kapadnis directed the developer to appear before the authority on April 29, 2020, to disclose its unsold inventory.

Advocate Pawar said, “My client is the original tenant of the old building. Despite three hearings being scheduled, the developer did not appear before MahaRERA. If the developer has already sold all the flats, where will she go? This MahaRERA order will serve as adeterrent to builders.”

Source: https://realty.economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/regulatory/maharera-tells-alamdar-infrastructure-not-to-sell-flats-to-protect-tenant/74544804

High Court directs Sahyog Homes to deposit 60 per cent of a refund amount before tribunal hears the appeal

Upholding a Maharashtra Real Estate Appellate Tribunal order, the Bombay High Court directed a developer to deposit 60 per cent of a refund amount set by the tribunal, before the tribunal hears the appeal.

Justice Bharati Dangre in an order last week refused to interfere with a MREAT order dated December 13, 2019, directing Sahyog Homes to first deposit 60 per cent of Rs 82 lakh refund to be given to a homebuyer.

Section 43 (5) of Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act states that a promoter may approach the appellate tribunal but it shall not entertain the appeal unless the promoter deposits a minimum of 30 per cent of the penalty or higher percentage as determined by the tribunal.

An aggrieved Sahyog Homes moved the high court against the MREAT order. When the court indicated that it would not like to interfere with the order, the counsel for the developer submitted that they will deposit 60 per cent of the amount within six weeks from the order. The court then disposed of the appeal.

This is not the first time that a developer has tested this RERA provision before the high court. In February 2019, ITMC Developers Pvt Ltd, the promoter of Sapphire 1 project in Kurla, had also moved court after the tribunal asked the developer to deposit 50 per cent of the refund amount imposed by MahaRERA. The high court had confirmed the tribunal decision and rejected the appeal.

Advocate Tanuj Lodha who represented homebuyer Krishna Agarwal in this case, said, “It’s important that section 43(5) of RERA is adhered to since it safeguards the interest of the allottees.” In September 2019, MahaRERA had held that even an unregistered Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was evidence enough that the homebuyer had booked a flat and directed Sahyog Homes to refund Agarwal Rs 82.95 lakh with 10.75 per cent interest from 2012.

Agarwal had booked flat no 2202 in Verona Tower S2 in Oshiwara in 2012 and paid Rs 82.95 lakh out of the flat cost of Rs 89.41 lakh based on a MoU. The developer promised possession in the 35-storey tower by 2016, but in 2017 it unilaterally revised the possession date to July 31, 2022, the complaint said.

During the hearings, the developer claimed that the Agarwals were not homebuyers but investors and that the MoU was not registered and hence a void document. The company attributed the delay in construction to noncooperation by slum dwellers in the SRA component.

MahaRERA member Madhav Kulkarni observed that the appellate tribunal had held that even in the absence of a registered agreement, such complaints were maintainable. Stating that the developer should not have accepted such huge amounts when the project was not progressing as per schedule, Kulkarni held that the developer had failed to deliver possession of the flat as per agreement and directed it to refund the entire amount with interest. This order was challenged by the developer before the tribunal.

Source: https://mumbaimirror.indiatimes.com/mumbai/other/builder-to-pay-part-of-refund-before-tribunal-hears-case/articleshow/74431967.cms

Builders in MP should get power connection after RERA registration: Anthony de Sa, Chairman of RERA writes to ACS energy

Bhopal

The builders should be given permission for power connection only after they get registered with RERA.

Chairman of RERA, Anthony de Sa, has dashed off a letter to the additional chief secretary of the energy department about it.

There was confusion among RERA, builders and the power distribution companies over how permission for power connection should be given.

Builders take power connection to complete their project. A house should not be sold to a customer until builder is registered with RERA.

The builders are selling houses without RERA registration and power connection. Consequently, the number of illegal colonies is increasing.

To impose a ban on the illegal colonies, RERA has written that the builders will get power connection when they get registered with RERA.

De Sa has written that, for sale of a house constructed on more than 500sq meters and for sale of more than eight units, RERA permission is necessary.

Such projects as have not been registered with RERA are illegal.

He has also written that RERA registration number should be mentioned in the forms for seeking power connection for housing complexes and housing projects. This should be done so that consumers do not face any problem.

Source: https://www.freepressjournal.in/bhopal/builders-in-mp-should-get-power-connection-after-rera-registration-anthony-de-sa-chairman-of-rera-writes-to-acs-energy

Real estate body launched app to facilitate homebuyers

The Confederation of Real Estate Developers’ Association of India (CREDAI) has launched an app to facilitate home buyers in buying property through credible developers. The app will help buyers to identify their preferred projects and contact developers directly.

The app was launched by Minister of Transport, Housing and Environment, Forest, Law of Chattisgarh, Mohammad Akbar along with Chattisgarh RERA Chief Vivek Dhand.

Minister of State for Housing and Urban Affairs, Hardeep Singh Puri, during the ‘’First National RERA Conclave’’ held on November 4, 2019 in Lucknow had asked the developers to launch a credible e-commercial platform to bring back the trust of buyers in the sector. The National Real Estate Development Council (Naredco) has earlier launched an similar app.

Awaas App by CREDaI is an exclusive platform for its members, which will showcase projects from 220 cities and will have participation from 20000 CREDAI developers nationwide.

“The realty sector has evolved to become more regulated and proficient with the adoption of technology. The launch of AWAAS App by CREDAI is one of many such initiatives to bring transparency and improve trust between developers and home buyers by harnessing the power of technology,” said Jaxay Shah, CREDAI Chairman.

“The app will aid developers in selling their finished projects faster and improve home buyer’s sentiment at large,” he added.

“Since the real estate sector has evolved, the mobile app will help increase transparency in the sector and improve trust between developers and home buyers. The platform would also enable buyers across India and abroad to identify their preferred projects and developers without any ambiguity in the process,” said Satish Magar, CREDAI president.

Source: https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/industry/services/property-/-cstruction/real-estate-body-launched-app-to-facilitate-homebuyers/articleshow/74149778.cms

MahaRERA directs developers to file source complaints if unable to register project

Pune

The Maharashtra Real Estate Regulatory Authority (MahaRERA) has directed developers with occupancy certificate to file a source complaint on denial of project with sub-registrar offices for want of Rera enrollment.

“Once a developer files a source complaint, the authority will look into it at the earliest. If the authority decides that the project doesn’t require MahaRERA registration, the developer can approach the sub-registrar office and get the project registered,” a MahaRERA officials said.

The move brings relief to developers in the state as they were not able to register their projects with the sub-registrar office for want of RERA registration, though they had occupancy certificate ready.

As per the rules, projects with occupancy certificates are not required to register with MahaRERA. However, a revenue department circular issued in September last year insisted on registration of all projects with RERA before registering them with sub-registrar offices in the state.

Members of the Confederation of Real Estate Developers Association of India (Credai) too had raised the issue, saying that the RERA rules specifically mention that projects with completion/occupation certificate before the registration of sale deed were exempted from RERA registration.

Revenue minister Balasaheb Thorat had told TOI last week that he had directed all the departments concerned to issue clarity on the subject.

MahaRERA hearings to commence in Nagpur.

The MahaRERA, which presently conducts hearing in Mumbai and Pune, will extend the hearings to Nagpur too, MahaRERA officials said on Saturday. The move aimed at addressing the pending cases, they added.

Source: https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/pune/maharera-directs-developers-to-file-source-complaints-if-unable-to-register-project/articleshow/74035664.cms

Return money to Kempegowda Layout site allottees: Court to Bangalore Development Authority

Bengaluru

In a major relief for site allottees in the Kempegowda Layout who were charged exorbitant rates of interest by the Bangalore Development Authority (BDA) for the delay in making full payments for their allotted sites, the Real Estate Regulatory Authority (RERA) court ordered it to refund a major chunk of it.

According to Nadaprabhu Kempegowda Layout Open Forum members, the BDA has been told to charge an interest rate equivalent to that charged by the State Bank of India plus 2 percentage points. “If those who are charged any higher rate of interest file a complaint with RERA, the BDA will have to reimburse the interest collected above this figure,” said a senior member. The court also agreed to the BDA’s deadline of December 31, 2021 to put in place all infrastructure in the layout.

A total of 10,000 allottees had been allotted sites in the layout in two phases with the original deadline for development of layout being March 31, 2018. “For delayed payments, the allottees were made to pay an interest rate of 18 per cent per annum for the first 30 days beyond May1, 2017, and 21 per cent annually for any period beyond that. Now, RERA has directed it to return the higher interest to the allottees,” he explained adding that the BDA has been directed to amend its rule to facilitate the payment.

Meanwhile, the KG Layout project has been brought under RERA despite a stiff resistance from the BDA. It sought three more years to complete the work and the RERA court approved the extension, another member said.

RERA also asked the BDA to hold regular monthly meetings with the Forum so that they are kept in the loop about regular improvements effected in their layout. The BDA Commissioner has agreed to meet RERA members on Saturday, said AS Surya Kiran of the Forum.

Source: https://www.newindianexpress.com/cities/bengaluru/2020/feb/01/return-money-to-kempegowda-layout-site-allottees-court-to-bangalore-development-authority-2097425.html

PMAY(U) Mission Achieves Remarkable Milestone By Sanctioning More than One Crore Houses In About 4 Years

Mr Amrit Abhijat, Joint Secretary & Mission Director (HFA), Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, Government of India said that the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (Urban) has sanctioned more than one crore houses since inception. Speaking at the 13th Edition Annual Real Estate Summit 2020, organised by FICCI on the theme – Ushering Indian Real Estate to Growth Trajectory, Mr Abhijat said that PMAY(U) is one of the flagship programs of the government and it is aimed at providing ‘Housing for All’ by 2022, when the nation completes its 75 years of Independence.

“The PMAY(U) mission has achieved a remarkable milestone by sanctioning more than one crore houses in a span of about 4 years,” he said. Mr Abhijat gave a snapshot of the real estate sector and affordable housing, and how they contributed to the GDP of the country. He also highlighted key initiatives of the government in the sector to support the private players. He released FICCI-ICRA Report on Affordable Housing during the event.

Mr KK Khandelwal, Chairman, Haryana Real Estate Regulatory Authority, Government of Haryana, said that the Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act, 2016 (RERA) has brought back the confidence of the buyers in the market and this trust will gradually strengthen. Flagging the issue of multiple regulators in real estate sector, Mr Khandelwal said that the industry has to somehow pressurise the government for having a single regulator as multiplicity of forums is creating problems and neither the buyers nor the promoters are happy with the situation.

“There has to be a single regulator or if one complete code cannot be evolved for the sector then at least for one kind of problem there should be only one forum. At times, a case is going on at all three places – RERA, NCDRC and NCLT,” he noted. Mr Khandelwal released FICCI-Colliers Report on Emerging Trends in Real Estate – Technology and New Assets Classes during the opening session.

Source: https://www.business-standard.com/article/news-cm/pmay-u-mission-achieves-remarkable-milestone-by-sanctioning-more-than-one-crore-houses-in-about-4-years-120012700232_1.html

RERA: A game-changing regulation, marred by patchy implementation

Across the nation, the speed of implementation and extent to which RERA has noticeably impacted real estate varies, but the positivity it brings in is not in doubt.

For an industry that provides a basic need of shelter, regulation has come as a value-add. After years of differences in opinion as regards norms, terms and conditions, the Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act (RERA), 2016, created a broad set of guidelines which brought in transparency in real estate transactions as also defined responsibilities of stakeholders in general and real estate developers in particular.

Across the nation, the speed of implementation and extent to which RERA has noticeably impacted real estate varies, but the positivity it brings in is not in doubt. There is need for an equal implementation across the nation with minor tweaks and changes to make what is accepted as ‘good’ to evolve into ‘better’ – and even, ‘best’.

RERA’s prime focus at the time of introduction as being ensuring protection of consumers’ interests, by bringing in policies that defined the extent as also apportioned responsibility on the part of real estate developers. Leveraging information technology, RERA enabled access to sanctioned plans as also details of different stages of construction. For customers, RERA has brought in an era of transparency through proper disclosure and financial discipline.

At the time it was introduced, this path-breaking regulatory regime provided for tribunals and ombudsman for redressing disputes. RERA also provided real estate developers with protection from defaulting buyers and ensured what we could refer to as an element of fair play.

In Maharashtra, easily the poster-boy of successful implementation of RERA across the nation, there has been an additional layer added to the process in the form of a redressal forum, which seeks to provide an option prior to actually filing a dispute before MahaRERA. This has proven to be a success, with a success rate of over 60 per cent.

This is the biggest take-away from the two-and-a-half years of RERA implantation across the nation. The regulatory aspect can be strengthened with redressal prior to taking up due process under the regulatory regime. In terms of different states having different set of market functioning – leading to different levels of implementation across states – needs to be streamlined into a single, functional regulatory regime that helps the industry grow in an environment of transparency and accountability on the part of stakeholders.

Projects which are in existence prior to implementation of RERA need to be assimilated within the system, or a parallel system which ensures that all real estate projects are brought under regulatory regime. Similarly, in some states where implementation is not at the level it should be, we see new real estate projects slipping through the regulatory net. It is similar to the challenge of GST and real estate: uniform implementation across different states is needed. Going into the future, RERA needs to address the issue of lack of uniformity in laws and capabilities of different state’s RERA authorities.

In some states, we see that for projects under construction, data is being collected – but not being analysed or shared with all stakeholders. Information technology needs to be leveraged, so that data is analysed; numbers are crunched – and the results are acted upon in the form of guidelines or new norms as would increase the positive effect of RERA.

We also have a situation in some states where implementation is not at the levels we would have expected. The problem here is the lack of informative and user-friendly on-line access for home buyers. So, we see in some states that periodic updates on part of the developers and also about some on-going projects are not available online.

Ideally, the huge quantum of data already collected by regulatory authorities across states should be analyzed efficiently and made available in simple to understand formats to stakeholders – especially home buyers – so that they are well informed and updated about the general scenario in their state’s real estate. The aspect of ‘information’ and of it reaching those for whom the regulatory regime sought to make these available is something that needs to be expedited in such states.

To sum up, the journey so far under the RERA regime has been good, but we need to tweak it to ensure it evolves through ‘better’ to ‘best’.

Source: https://www.financialexpress.com/money/rera-a-game-changing-regulation-marred-by-patchy-implementation/1825108/