Haryana RERA asks developers to seek upgradation in RERA Act

Haryana RERA Chairman KK Khandelwal called upon real estate developers and builders to come together to seek modifications and upgradation in the real estate act so that it’s loopholes, if any, get rectified and both industry leaders and homebuyers stand to gain.

Khandelwal was addressing the day-long NAREDCO Haryana Real Estate Summit 2022 & Buyer-Seller Interface held on November 29 at Gurugram.

The Summit was organized by National Real Estate Development Council (NAREDCO), an apex real estate body that works under the Ministry of Housing & Urban Affairs.

While addressing the queries of developers, Khandelwal said that the current RERA act have a few loopholes that have existed for the last five years.

“The RERA Act ensures transparency and establishes faith of the homebuyers in the industry. We are for completion of projects and believe that loopholes, if there are any, should be addressed,” said Khandelwal.

He asked industry leaders to exert their influence under the banner of NAREDCO (National Real Estate Development Council) to the right quarters of the government so that necessary changes are effected in RERA and both buyers and sellers have no problems with it.

“I have been raising the issue of lacunae in the RERA Act for the last couple of years to inspire the industry for necessary corrections during various interfaces with little success, because industry leaders did not follow up the issue with policy makers. That is why changes in the act have not yet happened,” said Khandelwal.

He stressed that the NAREDCO should form an expert and core groups and study the Act in an objective manner and find out what is correct and incorrect in the legislation.

They should then submit recommendations to the government so that corrective measures are initiated.

Among others who were present in the summit included Ranjit Singh, Power Minister, Government of Haryana, Rajan Bandelkar, President NAREDCO and Niranjan Hiranandani Vice Chairman NAREDCO.

Haryana’s Power Minister Ranjit Singh said that the government will try its best to solve the problems of power sector for industry and other developers so that the economic development of the state does not suffer.

“A cabinet meeting would be held in the first week of December, in which permission will be taken to address the issue of power problem in Haryana. A majority of power-related problems would be sorted out to the best of the availability of the power department of the state,” said the minister.

The minister reassured the real estate developers and builders to organise an interface with the government officials of the power sector and apprise them of their problems for quick redressal.

In a statement released after the summit, Parveen Jain, Chairman, NAREDCO said that the goal is to maximise the effectiveness of existing policies and the RERA Act.

“The brainstorming sessions held at the summit surely provide the sector with a road map for the anticipated growth as all policymakers, industry executives, and experts have joined this platform to identify solutions to existing issues and compliances in light of the evolving regulatory landscape,” Jain said.

Source: https://www.moneycontrol.com/news/business/haryana-rera-asks-developers-to-seek-upgradation-in-rera-act-9622491.html

HC seeks MahaRERA reply on 1.5 yr delay in hearing complaint

The Bombay high court has sought a reply from Maharashtra Real Estate Regulatory Authority (MahaRERA) regarding a homebuyer’s plea that the housing regulator has not taken up her complaint for hearing for the last one and half years.

Homebuyer Geeta Bhavesh Bhanushali had filed a writ petition in the high court after her complaint was not taken up by MahaRERA for hearing.

Lodha and Lodha Advocates, appearing for the petitioner, contended that their client’s grievance was that MahaRERA had not scheduled a hearing of her complaint for the last one and half years.

A bench comprising Justices SV Gangapurwala and SG Dige directed assistant government pleader Uma Palsuledesai, who appeared for the state, to take instructions from MahaRERA and inform the court on the status of the petitioner’s complaint and cite the reasons why it has not been listed for hearing. The court scheduled the next hearing on December 12.

Bhanushali, her husband Bhavesh, and father-in-law Kalyanji Bhanushali are residents of flat no 903 in the B wing of Tirumala Habitat project in Mulund West. They had booked the flat in June 2011 by paying ₹1.12 crore including taxes. Though the agreement for sale promised possession on or before September 30, 2014, the possession was delivered only in September 2019 after a delay of five years, the complainant alleged.

The complainant also alleged that she was shocked when the family received the first property tax bill on November 16, 2019 from the Municipal Corporation it showed flat nos 903 and 904 approved as a single flat. She had approached MahaRERA with a complaint seeking interest on delayed possession and prayers for sub-division of the flat among other grievances.

Over 6000 complaints pending with MahaRERA

In a related development, social activist and advocate Godfrey Pimenta, who represents homebuyers before MahaRERA, wrote to chief minister Eknath Shinde that homebuyers of stalled projects were complaining that hearings before MahaRERA are “unduly” delayed, in some cases, for close to two years.

The letter said there were 38,750 ongoing real estate projects registered with MahaRERA and a total of 19,290 complaints filed with the regulator. Out of these,12,971 complaints were disposed of and 6,319 complaints were yet to be heard.

The letter submitted through Mumbai Suburban Collector Nidhi Choudhari to the CM pointed out that a recent JLL report had estimated that there were 99,000 stalled residential units in MMR, and delays in hearing cases pertaining to Section 7 and 8 of RERA which seek deregistration of a delinquent developer and appointment of a new developer further compound the misery of homebuyers.

Source: https://www.hindustantimes.com/cities/mumbai-news/hc-seeks-maharera-reply-on-1-5-yr-delay-in-hearing-complaint-101669230316095.html

Buyers can seek refund if builder skips possession dates: Tribunal

Setting aside an order by the MahaRERA chairperson, the Maharashtra Real Estate Appellate Tribunal (MREAT) observed that the developers continued to skip mentioning the date of possession of flats in their allotment letters given to home buyers even two years after RERA came into place. The tribunal has asked MahaRERA to view this seriously.

“This requirement, envisaged by RERA, is flouted more often than observed which needs to be viewed seriously by the authority,” observed a tribunal bench, comprising Shriram Jagtap, member judicial, and SS Sandhu, member administrative, in a November 11 order. The bench also slammed the practice of developers not sharing a draft Agreement For Sale (AFS) containing the terms and conditions prior to asking for payment for execution of the agreement.

The tribunal also took strong exception to the Authority’s “over emphasis” on the view that home buyers need to seek reliefs under Section 18 on or before the Occupancy Certificate (OC) is obtained, and that they were not entitled to refunds under the section if they file the complaint after the OC is obtained by the promoter. MahaRERA had backed the promoter’s contention that irrespective of the delay in granting possession, once the OC is obtained or possession offered, Section 18 would not apply.

In this case, the home buyers had filed the complaint on March 17, 2021, after the promoter had obtained the OC by February 9, 2021.

The observations came on appeal filed by senior citizens, Bijon and Shanta Talukdar, who had booked a flat in Eirene project by promoter Dhruva Woolen Mills Pvt Ltd. Booked under the 9:91 scheme, the couple had paid ₹9.44 lakh and the remaining 91 per cent was payable at the time of possession.

Though the email communication between the parties indicated June 2020 as the date of possession, it was not specified in the letter of allotment (LOA) issued by the promoter on June 19, 2019 – on the MahaRERA portal, the promoter mentioned the possession date as December 2019, with a grace period of six months. Thereafter, the promoter could not hand over possession by June 2020, thanks to the lockdown; and in the intervening period MahaRERA allowed extension of possession date till December 2020.

Meanwhile, the home buyers served notice on the promoter on August 24, 2020, to hand over possession within 15 days, failing which their money be refunded with interest. They reiterated the demand in another legal notice dated January 21, 2021. Thereafter, the promoter informed the couple that OC had been received on February 9, 2021, and asked them to take possession by paying the balance 91 per cent amount as agreed.

As the demand for refund with interest was declined, the home buyers had filed a complaint seeking refund of the amount under Section 18 for delay in possession. MahaRERA had dismissed the complaint after agreeing with the promoter’s contention. Aggrieved by the order, the home buyers had challenged the September 7, 2021, order before MREAT.

The tribunal held that the promoter had replied to the legal notice only on February 26 (after the OC was obtained on February 9) declining to refund their investment, and therefore, there was no undue delay in homebuyers approaching MahaRERA seeking relief under Section 18.

The orders by MREAT can be challenged by aggrieved parties before the Bombay High Court in second appeal on a point of law.

Source: https://www.hindustantimes.com/cities/mumbai-news/buyers-can-seek-refund-if-builder-skips-possession-dates-tribunal-101668538140352.html

Haryana real estate regulator asks Vatika to refund homebuyers’ money

The Gurugram bench of the Haryana real estate regulatory authority (HRERA) has ordered Vatika Limited to refund money with interest to all 28 allottees of its housing project which the developer has abandoned.

The HRERA court had issued the order on October 28 while hearing the petition related to Vatika Turning Point, a residential project in Sector 88B.

The court said that the promoter Vatika will also have to pay the loan amount to respective banks in case an allottee has borrowed from bank.

“Since the project has been abandoned by the promoter, the allottees are entitled for the refund of the amount paid by them to the promoter against the allotment of their units with interest at the prescribed rate of 10.25 per cent per annum from the date of each payment till the date of actual realisation within the timelines as prescribed under the rule 16 of the Rules 2017,” said the RERA court.

The court said, “However, while depositing sale consideration of the allotted units, some of the allottees raised loans from the different financial institutions and the same was paid to the promoter.

“While refunding the amount deposited by the allottees who raised loans against the allotted units, the promoter would be liable to pay that amount with interest up to date to those financial institutions and remainder, if any, would be paid back to the allottees.” Vatika Limited had obtained licence from the Department of Town and Country Planning (DTCP) in 2013 to develop group housing project Turning Point.

The court observed, “Though, the due date for completion of the project and offer of possession of the allotted units was mentioned as validity of registration certificate being September 15, 2025, but after expiry of more than four years from the booking there is no physical work progress at the site except for some digging work.” The court also observed that the promoter failed to file quarterly reports giving status of work progress required under section 11 of Act 2016.

So keeping in view all these facts, 28 allottees of the project approached the authority seeking refunds.

The authority directed the enquiry officer to report about the compliances of the obligations by the promoter regarding the project, specifically with regard to 70 per cent of amount collected from allottees minus the proportionate land cost and construction cost whether deposited in a separate RERA account as per requirement of the Act of 2016 and Rule 2017.

The enquiry report mentioned, “There is hardly any progress regarding development such as construction on site.” K K Khandelwal, RERA chairman, said, “Such offences are unacceptable. The promoters cannot take allottees for granted after realising their hard earned money. RERA has to act as per the law and ensure allottees’ money is safe and they get also compensation for mental trouble.” PTI CORR HVA

Source: https://theprint.in/india/haryana-real-estate-regulator-asks-vatika-to-refund-homebuyers-money/1202678/

Jharkhand sees highest 3-year jump in RERA project registrations, UP just 22%

After more than five years since its implementation, RERA has made remarkable progress in addressing consumer complaints across different states and UTs.

Data available with the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs indicates that so far, 1,00,949 cases filed under the various State iterations of RERA have been disposed of by these authorities as of 8 October 2022. Of these, approx. 72% cases (72,979 complaints) were resolved in the last three years, which include the Covid-19 pandemic.

Taking the lead over previous torchbearer MahaRERA, Uttar Pradesh’s UP RERA saw as many as 40,559 cases disposed of so far – against a mere 11,596 cases in October 2019. Haryana comes a distant second with approx. 20,539 cases disposed of, against just 2,480 cases in the corresponding period of 2019. Still going strong but no longer in the pole position, MahaRERA has so far disposed of approx. 12,507 cases.

Commenting on the same, Anuj Puri, Chairman, ANAROCK Group, said, “Still nowhere close to saturation effect but showing ‘real‘ progress, the Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act has been visibly fulfilling one of its key functions – resolving homebuyer grievances. As per official data from MoHUA, the respective RERA authorities of various state and UTs have addressed more than a lakh consumer complaints.”

“While this is impressive, it is also true that there remains a big question mark with regards to 100% resolution,” said Puri. “At the end of the day, RERA still lacks sufficient execution powers – a fact which the Supreme Court has also expressed apprehensions over. Meanwhile, the pandemic did not break the pace of project and real estate agent registrations over the last three years.”

Project & Agent Registrations

Amounting for an impressive 109% growth in last three years, approx. 94,513 projects have so far been registered under RERA to date, from approx. 45,307 on 8th of October 2019. The states with maximum project registrations are Maharashtra, Gujarat, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Telangana and Tamil Nadu. Together, these states account for a significant 83% share with approx. 78,258 registered projects. Maharashtra still tops the list with approx. 38,229 project registrations.

While it leads in terms of disposal of cases, UP has seen the lowest growth of 22% in project registrations in the past three years. In October 2019, the state had approx. 2,710 registered projects while the currently number stands at approx. 3304 projects, indicating that the primary focus in UP has been on project completions rather than new launches.

Among the top 7 states, Jharkhand has seen the highest three-year growth of 855% in project registrations – from 103 in October 2019 to approx. 984 projects today. Tamil Nadu recorded a 828% jump in the period – in October 2019, the state had 1,154 projects registered under RERA; this has increased to 10,711 projects today.

Meanwhile, registration of real estate agents under RERA has risen by 95% in the last three years – from 35,699 on 8 October 2019 to approx. 69,766 on 8 October 2022. Maharashtra retains its lead with the maximum number of projects and agent registrations:

* As on 8th October 2022, Maharashtra saw 38,229 projects and 38,969 agents registered under MahaRERA

* In Tamil Nadu, 10,771 projects and 2,596 agents have been registered as of October 2022

* Gujarat has seen 10,030 projects and 1,953 agents registered to date

* In Karnataka, 6,313 projects and 3,590 agents are currently registered under RERA

* Telangana currently has 5,148 projects and 2,448 agents registered

* Madhya Pradesh has seen 4,523 projects and 1,287 agents registered.

* In Uttar Pradesh, 3,304 projects and 5,583 agents have been registered.

* Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, and Bihar are witnessing increasing momentum with 2,096, 1,562 and 1,470 projects registered respectively.

Source: https://www.financialexpress.com/money/jharkhand-sees-highest-3-year-jump-in-rera-project-registrations-up-just-22/2725240/

UP-Rera approves 36 new realty projects in September

The Uttar Pradesh Real Estate Regulatory Authority (UP RERA) received 36 applications to register new residential and commercial realty projects in the month of September. The authority said that it is the highest number of applications received in a month since the formation of UP RERA in April 2017. It received 125 applications to register new projects in the first half of 2022.

According to the rules, a developer is required to register any new project with the authority and obtain a registration number before beginning construction work. RERA registers a project only if the developer gets the project map sanctioned by local authorities.

A number of these new realty projects are coming up in cities outside the national capital region. Earlier, 70% of new projects were from Noida, Greater Noida, Ghaziabad and Meerut, and the remaining 30% were from non-NCR cities like Lucknow, Kanpur, and Agra, RERA informed. “In September, 70% of new applications were from non-NCR towns and 30% from NCR towns,” Rajive Kumar chairman, UP RERA, said.

Out of 36 applications received in September this year, 24 were from non-NCR towns such as Lucknow, Agra, and Muradabad and the remaining from NCR towns including Noida, Meerut and Ghaziabad. The total cost of these residential and commercial projects is ₹3,648.35 crore and RERA has sanctioned 6931 residential and 1185 commercial units.

Source: https://www.hindustantimes.com/cities/noida-news/uprera-approves-36-new-realty-projects-in-september-101665772550059.html

RERA Declares 139 Projects As Lapsed, Declare One Month Deadline

As per RERA registration, 139 projects in the Pune district, which were not completed within the stipulated time and did not get an extension, have been declared as lapsed projects by Maharera.

Maharera will issue show-cause notices to these projects. As per Sections 7 and 8 of the RERA Act, the projects can be taken up through the Consumer Co-operative Housing Society. Developers have been given a deadline of one month.

The builders had promised to complete the project in 2022 but did not complete it. RERA registration is mandatory for developers and their projects. As per this registration, the developers must complete the project within the time given by Maharera to complete the project. Also, there is a provision for strict action against the developers who violate this rule.

Projects are extended if the developer submits 51 percent customer consent. But even for that, the developers are not coming forward. It hits the customers hard. So now Maharera has decided to take action against such developers. These developers have been given one month to make their case and explain why the project has been stalled. He also said that action will be taken as per Sections 7 and 8 of RERA against the developers who do not come forward or give a satisfactory reply within this period.

You can check the details here: https://maharera.mahaonline.gov.in/Site/1128/Lapsed-Projects

Source: https://www.punekarnews.in/rera-declares-139-projects-as-lapsed-declare-one-month-deadline/

MahaRERA suspends 52 builders from KDMC

The Maha Real Estate Regulatory Authority (RERA) suspended registrations of 52 builders from Kalyan–Dombivli Municipal Corporation (KDMC) limits on Monday. The list has been uploaded on the civic body’s official website.

This move by RERA comes after KDMC had registered an FIR against 27 developers for forgery and cheating last week. FIRs against 39 others are underway.

The civic body has said that the builders had produced fake documents to acquire the RERA certificate.

“We have uploaded the list of suspended builders from KDMC on our website,” said Vasant Prabhu, secretary, RERA.

All real estate projects registered with RERA are provided with a certificate having a unique registration number. It has all the information about the property. A developer, builder or a property agent cannot advertise, book or sell real estate without obtaining the RERA certificate.

The KDMC has informed that these 27 developers had forged the required documents to procure the RERA certificate.

This action by the civic body comes after a city-based architect and social activist, Sandeep Patil, 43, filed a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) in the Bombay High Court in 2021. He drew the court’s attention towards the builders who made fraudulent documents for the purpose of registration of flats/ shops in illegal buildings because of which innocent people were cheated throughout Maharashtra.

Patil had raised the matter of 66 builders and demanded action.

“While I have raised the name of 66 builders only 52 have been suspended by RERA. I checked the list online and found all the builders are those mentioned by me in my complaints. What about the remaining 14 builders? Also, suspension will not help as it is temporary – a proper legal case should be done in this matter. I will follow up with this too,” said Patil.

“The Dombivli police is working on registering cases against 39 more builders shortly,” added Patil.

The cases registered at the police station are under Sections 420, 465, 467, 468 and 471 of the Indian Penal Code.

Disha Sawant, assistant town planner KDMC, said, “This suspension is done by the RERA so we cannot comment on it. Meanwhile, KDMC is carrying out its own investigation.”

Source: https://www.hindustantimes.com/cities/mumbai-news/rera-suspends-52-builders-from-kdmc-101664827518793.html

UP RERA imposes penalty against 13 developers

The Uttar Pradesh Real Estate Regulatory Authority (UP RERA) has imposed penalty of Rs 1 crore 39 lakhs against 13 promoters after reviewing the status of compliance of its orders by the promoters.

The authority is making constant efforts to ensure enforcement of its orders and provide speedy justice to the aggrieved allottees. The action of penalty against the guilty promoters is an important step towards compelling them to comply with the orders of the authority.

The Authority, using its powers under section 38/63 of the RERA Act which empowers it to penalise the non-compliant promoters with up to 5% of the cost of the project, decided to impose penalty against

SRB Promoters Pvt. Ltd., Gardenia India Promoters Pvt. Ltd, AIMS Golf Town Developers Pvt. Ltd, MV Infrastructures and Housing Pvt. Ltd, Elegant Infracon Pvt. Ltd, Redicon Infrastructures Pvt. Ltd, Decent Buildwell Pvt. Ltd, Uttam Steel and Associate (Consortium), JSS Buildcon Pvt. Ltd, Earthcon Construction Pvt. Ltd, Opulent Infradevelopers Pvt. Ltd, Aura Buildwell Pvt. Ltd and Green Bay Infrastructures Pvt. Ltd.

The authority further directed the promoters to submit the compliance report of its orders within 15 days and deposit the amount of penalty within 30 days, otherwise the amount of penalty shall be recovered as arrears of land revenue.

“Uttar Pradesh RERA is continuously taking strict decisions against the insensitive promoters for protection of the interests of the home buyers. The Authority is fully committed to protect the interests of home buyers and, for this, the Authority is taking all possible steps to regulate the real estate sector of the state according to the RERA Act,” said Rajive Kumar, Chairman, UP RERA.

Source: https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/industry/services/property-/-cstruction/up-rera-imposes-penalty-against-13-developers/articleshow/94398656.cms

Over 50% projects tagged ‘ongoing’ since MahaRERA, still await completion

Over 50 percent of the total projects registered as ‘ongoing’ with the Maharashtra Real Estate Regulatory Authority (MahaRERA) when the regulator came into being in 2017 are yet to be completed, according to data accessed by Moneycontrol under the Right To Information (RTI) Act.

About 13,246 projects were listed as ‘ongoing’ in 2017, of which 6,557, or about 49.5 percent, have been completed.

A total 36,461 projects, including the ‘ongoing’ ones, have been registered since the inception of MahaRERA, of which 9,637 have been completed.

About 3,080 completed projects are new projects with the rest being ‘ongoing’ projects.

The data reveals that out of the total completed 9,637 projects, about 1,897, or 20 percent, were completed only after getting an extension. These include 1,655 ongoing projects and 242 new projects.

Maharashtra was one of the first states where rules and all sections of the Real Estate (Regulation & Development) Act, 2016, were notified and came into force on May 1, 2017.

What is an ongoing project?

When the RERA Act came into effect, the MahaRERA had asked all new and ongoing projects to register without which they could not market, sell or get approvals.

All ongoing as well as under-construction projects which had not received completion certificates had to get registered with the regulatory authorities within three months, i.e, July 31, 2017.

Further, projects with a plot size of a minimum 500 square metres or eight apartments also came under the purview of the Act. MahaRERA had also levied a penalty on developers of ongoing projects who did not adhere to the deadline set for registering the ongoing projects.

What is a new project?

A new project that is starting afresh and has come into existence after the MahaRERA became effective on May 01, 2017. All such projects launched after RERA Act came into effect have to register their projects with MahaRERA in order to market or sell units in them.

As per the data, about 63 percent or 23,215 projects out of the total 36,461 registered, as of June 2022, are new projects.

What’s the solution for the completion of ongoing projects?

Gautam Chatterjee, retired IAS officer and first chairman of MahaRERA, said, “We got these 13,000 ongoing projects registered within a period of two to three months after MahaRERA got into action from May 2017. The whole point is these are the legacy projects that are stuck due to several problems for whatever reasons they might be. Around 4,500 projects that are lapsed but we need to look at around 2,000 odd projects where the buyer’s money is involved and try getting them back on track.”

Chatterjee added, “We have to make efforts to ensure that these projects are completed by imposing sections 7 and 8 of RERA Act that allow taking over of the projects that are stuck. I know that the MahaRERA has recently launched a vertical for stalled and lapsed projects where they need to be analysed and measures should be taken to ensure they are completed.”

Chatterjee said that one of the few measures could be involving all the stakeholders, including financial institutions, in taking the project ahead apart from the association of allottees when they take over the project. But this would require amendments in the Act, and they should be done after carefully analysing the projects that have lapsed or are stalled.

A senior MahaRERA official not wishing to be named said, “It is true that the majority of the stalled projects are those that were registered as ongoing projects. We are in the process of appointing investigators who will go on projects where we suspect that a significant amount of the money is spent, but no groundwork is evident. The plan is to get things moving in the coming months. Out of the total lapsed projects, we are aiming and focusing on 900 odd projects where the pushing by the regulator might work in favour of the buyers.”

Lapsed projects vertical

MahaRERA chairman Ajoy Mehta on June 22 announced the formation of a dedicated vertical on lapsed or stalled real estate projects to get these projects moving by either the existing developer taking it ahead or buyers taking over the project or by roping in a new developer.

“We have verticals for grievances, complaints, registration, adjudication, and administration. Similarly, this vertical will be for stalled projects. If we have to look essentially at stalled projects, out of 4,500 stalled projects, 1,500 do not have bookings. Out of the 3 lakh apartments that are stuck, 1.28 lakh do not have bookings. My focus is on stalled projects where there is money from homebuyers involved. The approximate worth of stuck projects is expected to be Rs 78,000 crore. We will tackle money from banks and financial institutions at a later stage,” Mehta was quoted as saying.

When is a real estate project declared lapsed?

Every project registered by a developer with MahaRERA is given three to four years for completion, which is considered a reasonable time, followed by the issuance of a registration number for the project.

A search on the MahaRERA website using this number will throw up all details relating to the project. The registration number is to be published by the developer in every advertisement or promotion activity related to the project.

However, a project is termed as ‘lapsed’ when the timeline given for completion is not met, and the developer has not applied for an extension. Once the registration of the project is declared ‘lapsed’, the developer cannot advertise, market, book, sell or offer to sell, or invite persons to invest in these projects. Such projects cannot be registered by the registrar of the revenue department.

Source: https://www.moneycontrol.com/news/business/real-estate/mc-exclusive-over-50-projects-tagged-ongoing-since-maharera-still-await-completion-9206841.html