Complying with the assurance made to Orissa High Court, the State government on Monday notified the Odisha Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Amendment Rules 2022. The new rules have been notified by the Housing and Urban Development department after suitable modifications to the existing Odisha Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Rules 2017.
Officials said the gazette notification of the amended rules intends to ensure smooth implementation of the RERA Act for the government and also to make its compliance easier for all stakeholders including promoters and buyers.
As per the amendments, the promoter will have to abide by the time schedule for completing the project as disclosed at the time of registration with the authority. Any imposition or increase of development charges after the expiry of the deadline of a project will not be charged from the allottees.
Besides, the allottees will also have the right to visit the site to assess the extent of development of the project and his/her apartment or plot. The amendment rules also clarify that the promoter will hand over the common areas of the project to the association of allottees after duly obtaining the occupancy certificate from the competent authority as provided in the Act.
In the absence of any local law, the promoter will hand over the necessary documents and plans including common areas to the association of allottees or the competent authority, as the case may be, within 30 days after obtaining the occupancy certificate. Besides, a number of other modifications have been made in the rules to streamline the agreement for sale of houses and make the rules compliant with the Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act, 2016.
RERA activists who welcomed the amended rules said attempts have been made to bring clarity on the transfer of common areas to the association and give due importance to the occupancy certificate. They, however, suggested that the power to resolve disputes in the agreement should be brought before the RERA Authority and not adjudicating authority as mentioned in the rules.
The State government in the last week of August had assured the High Court to bring the amended ORERA Rules without four weeks.The notification of the amended rules assumes significance in view of the ban the court had imposed on the registration of sale deeds relating to apartments and flats without conforming to provisions of the RERA Act.