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/

Maha RERA dismisses case in which a buyer sought full refund for not getting possession on time

The regulatory body dismissed a case in which a buyer sought full refund for not getting possession on time.

The Maharashtra Real Estate Regulatory Authority (MahaRERA) has ruled that developers, before making any changes in the approved plan of a project, require the consent of two-thirds of allottees, and once consent is given in writing and the plan is amended, the allottees cannot change their mind.

The order was given last week by MahaRERA member Bhalchandra Kapadnis in the Sunil Wadhwani vs Pashmina Realty Ltd case.

Homebuyer Wadhwani had booked flat no C-701 in Pashmina Lotus located at Chandivali in Powai with the promise of possession on September 30, 2016. Wadhwani sought refund of his investment with interest under Section 18 of RERA contending that the developer failed to deliver by the agreed upon date.

During the hearings, Pashmina Realty Ltd, represented by chartered account Ramesh Prabhu, contended that the plans for 4BHK were considered unviable, and had to be revised to build 2BHK and 3BHK flats in the project. The plans were modified with the written consent of two-thirds of homebuyers, including Wadhwani, as mandated by RERA. Prabhu argued that Wadhwani’s complaint should be dismissed since he gave consent for re-planning under Section 14 (2) of RERA and cannot withdraw his permission now.

Prabhu submitted that Pashmina Lotus project was abandoned and the revised project was registered as Lake Riviera A & B wings with MahaRERA and developer EktaWorld was brought on board as development manager. He said Wadhwani has used the registration number of Pashmina Lotus to file his complaint though he is now an allottee of Lake Riviera and hence his complaint was not maintainable.

Advocates Siddhesh Bhole and Krupashree Sawant, appearing for Wadhwani, pointed out that their client had paid Rs 2.70 crore out of the flat price of Rs 2.76 crore and unless the entire sum is refunded, no subsequent agreement can be executed. Kapadnis observed that the consent under Section 14 (2) of RERA — involving two-thirds allottees — was given to the promoters and Wadhwani had shown readiness to pay Rs 20 lakh for additional carpet area.

“These facts, therefore, establish that on the consent of the complainant, the respondents have acted upon to their disadvantage and hence the complainant is ‘estopped’ under Section 115 of Evidence Act from withdrawing his consent and his status as allottee of the new flats,” Kapadnis said in his 8-page order.

He also said Section 62 of the Contract Act and the principle of novation of contract come into play in this case. Section 62 states that if the parties to a contract agree to substitute it with a new contract, then the original agreement need not be acted upon. It also says that novation requires that the old contract be replaced by a new contract.

Holding that novation of contract should be applied to this case, Kapadnis ruled that the amount paid by Wadhwani for flat no C-701 should be adjusted against the two new flats and directed both parties to register the agreement for sale for the new flats within one month from the order.

Source: https://mumbaimirror.indiatimes.com/mumbai/other/once-two-thirds-of-homebuyers-give-consent-no-turning-back-maharera/articleshow/73219860.cms

MahaRERA says industry units not under purview

Pune

The Maharashtra Real Estate Regulatory Authority (MahaRERA) has in a recent order held that industrial units or buildings part of such units would not come under the purview of the Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act, 2016.

RERA adjudicating officer BD Kapadnis observed in an order that complaints related to industrial units could not be covered under the real estate statute.

The officer passed the order while hearing a case related to a complainant who had booked two units in an industrial facility, but failed to get their possession on agreed date of May 31, 2015. The complainant wanted to withdraw from the project and claimed refund of the amount with interests and compensation.

The RERA authorities said the Maharashtra Ownership Flats Act (Mofa), 1963, was applicable to the units and not the real estate law.

“It is clearly mentioned in the documents that the units are described as ‘estate units’ and they are of ‘big size’. It is mentioned in the documents that the units are agreed to be purchased for setting up industrial business of manufacturing and permitted under industrial location policy,” the RERA adjudicating office observed after going through the relevant documents related to the case.

“After looking into these legal aspects of the matter, the only conclusion that can be drawn is that Mofa is applicable to the premises used for carrying on any industry whereas the definition of the apartment does not include the industrial purpose. There remains no doubt in my mind that the industrial units are not included in the definition of apartment in RERA,” the officer added.

Source: https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/pune/maharera-says-industry-units-not-under-purview/articleshow/73068802.cms

CM to inaugurate K-RERA

Chief minister will launch Kerala real estate regulatory authority (K-RERA) at Mascot hotel at 3pm on January 1. K-RERA was constituted in October.

K-RERA issued a notice directing that all promoters, builders and developers shall not advertise, market, book, sell or offer to sell apartments, plots of buildings from January 1 without obtaining registration from K-RERA if the apartment has more than eight units or the land proposed to be developed is more than 500m. A similar direction was issued to real estate agents that they shall not facilitate sale or purchase of plot, apartment or building without obtaining registration from K-RERA under relevant sections.

Source: https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/thiruvananthapuram/cm-to-inaugurate-k-rera/articleshow/73012425.cms

Hope for homebuyers, developers see business in stuck projects

The number of stuck projects is huge and reasons are mostly related to the liquidity problem and financial crunch. In such a scenario the best solution is to give them to the developers who have a good record so far.

Real estate developers in Delhi-NCR are sensing business opportunity in completing over two lakh flats that have not been completed and some are taking over stuck projects, rebranding them to sell these unsold apartments at a premium.

Noida’s ATS Group has formed a separate company, ATS Nirman, and has already taken over three stalled projects and is in line to take over more. The business has a potential of Rs 30,000 crore in next five years, said Getamber Anand, CMD of ATS Group. The company takes over projects through the Real Estate Regulatory Authority (RERA) as they need to be deregistered first, he said.

“We are not calling it a project management consultancy but a project revival consultancy,” Anand said. “With ATS branding and assurance, the existing customers’ trust is gained.”

Ashish Sarin, CEO of Gurgaon-based Alpha Corp, said developers are exploring alliances to jointly develop stalled projects through revenue-sharing pacts. “Instead of launching new projects, they are taking over incomplete projects and assuring timely delivery,” he said.

Sarin said stuck projects leading to slowdown in the market is one of the factors contributing to prolonged stress in the real estate industry. “For developers struggling to complete projects, joint ventures or joint developments offer a viable means to overcome financial distress and find synergies,” he said.

As per government estimates, around 458,000 housing units are stuck across more than 1,600 projects in the country.

“It is a good trend as it will help finish the stuck projects faster and helping the buyers get their homes. The projects that were in bad shape were acting as blots on industry, affecting the image of the sector that has good intention of meeting the housing demand of people,” said Manoj Gaur, MD of Noida-based Gaurs Group.

“The number of stuck projects is huge and reasons are mostly related to the liquidity problem and financial crunch. In such a scenario the best solution is to give them to the developers who have a good record so far. The intention should be to hand over the homes to the buyers as soon as possible,” said Deepak Kapoor, director, Gulshan Homz.

Source: https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/wealth/personal-finance-news/hope-for-homebuyers-developers-see-business-in-stuck-projects/articleshow/72901348.cms

UP Rera cancels registration of five stuck realty projects in Gautam Budh Nagar

With an aim to assist homebuyers get returns on their investments, the Uttar Pradesh real estate regulatory authority (UP Rera) cancelled the registration of as many as five realty projects located in Gautam Budh Nagar on December 6. This brings the number of deregistered real estate projects in the district to six. The move comes in light of developers allegedly failing to deliver the projects to buyers. However, the deregistrations have not yielded any result for buyers.

According to the law, the Rera has the right to deregister a project if the developer abandons it. After deregistration, a developer loses control of the project and the Rera has the right to either transfer rights to buyers or to a new developer.

The Rera gives an opportunity to the apartment buyers’ association to take over the stalled project and if this does not work out then a co-developer (a new developer) is engaged to revive and deliver the project.

The regulatory authority, which was formed under the Rera Act 2016 to address issues in the realty sector, has been unable to deliver justice due to legal hurdles.

“We had high hopes from real estate regulatory authority when it was formed in 2016. We thought it will deliver justice as promised in a time-bound manner and we will be able to either get our flats or our investments refunded. But we are clueless what to do now because filing case in Rera has provided no solution so far,” said Arun Chauhan, a buyer, whose family had bought two flats in Unnati Fortune Group’s Aranya project in Sector 119.

Officials of the Unnati Fortune Group were not available for comments even after repeated attempts to reach them.

The first time that UP Rera deregistered a project was Unnati Fortune’s Aranya – a residential project – in May this year, so as to allow the apartment owners’ association to finish it or bring in a co-developer.

“The Rera had deregistered the Aranya project and later, the matter reached National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) before we could bring out any solution. The government has laid down a process giving models to revive the realty sector and Rera is working on available models to deliver justice,” said Rajive Kumar chairman of the regulatory authority.

Similarly, the Rera’s move to allow buyers’ associations to take over a Noida-based housing project by Shubhkamna developer was disrupted as the matter was taken to the NCLT.

Another project deregistered by the Rera is mixed-land use project Mist Avenue (Festival City), located in Sector 143 along the Noida-Greater Noida Expressway. The promoter of Mist Avenue is lodged in Delhi’s Tihar jail and hence unavailable for comment.

The rest of the projects deregistered by the Rera are all located in Greater Noida.

The authority hopes that in future, the Rera Act 2016 provides better solutions for the realty sector and its investors.

“Whenever a new law comes into being, it has scope for improvement and revision. And with time, the Rera Act 2016 will have more clarity on complicated legal issues and will be more useful to this sector. And even now it has emerged into a successful model,” said Kumar.

According to Rera officials, engaging co-developers is not easy because of debt liabilities associated with distressed projects – no co-developer has taken up any of the six de-registered projects due to liabilities and financial strains of those projects.

“Co-developers worry about the debt that a distressed realty project already has from banks or other agencies and the rules are not explicit. There needs to be more clarity about the co-developers’ liabilities and profit portion. Once this is done, bringing about a co-developer will be convenient,” said Kumar.

“We have demanded from the government that Rera should be given more powers to deliver timely justice for the realty sector. In some cases, petition in NCLT disrupted ongoing proceedings in Rera, thereby delaying justice. We demand that the Rera should address real estate sector cases first before they reach any other court, such as NCLT,” said Prashant Tiwari, president of confederation of real estate developers association of India’s (Credai) Western UP wing.

Source: https://www.hindustantimes.com/real-estate/up-rera-cancels-registration-of-five-stuck-realty-projects-in-gautam-budh-nagar/story-aVbe6Rz3Db3AlUOF8zutOK.html