WHAT IS RERA?

 Real Estate ( Regulation and Development) is an act passed by the parliament in 2016 that came into effect by Parliament in 2016 . It seeks to protect home buyers as well as help boost investments in the real estate sector by bringing efficiency and transparency in the sale /purchase of real estate. The Act establishes Real Estate Regulatory Authority in each state for regulation of the real estate sector and also acts as an adjudicating body for speedy dispute resolution.

Need for RERA

• Real estate sector had been largely unregulated , no standardization of business practices and transactions.
• Prevalence of  issues like delays , price, quality of construction .
• cheating.
• No grievance redressal mechanism.
• Generation of black money in real estate sector.

Key provisions

• Establishment of State level RERA.
• Establishment of real estate tribunal.
• Mandatory registration.
• Deposits
• Penal interest in case of default.
• Proper punishment .

Benefits

• Timely delivery of flats.
• Furnishing of accurate project details.
• Specifying carpet area.
• All clearances are mandatory before beginning of a project.
• Each project should have a separate bank account.
• After sales service.

Concerns

• Past real estate projects are not included.
• Delay from government agencies
• No compulsory registration for projects less than 500 square meter
• It does not deal with the concerns of developers.

Way Forward

• Avoiding any conflict between the centre and states regarding regulation of real estate sector.
• States should not dilute the RERA provisions . Provisions for punishment of violations , should be kept intact in all state laws.
• Issues regarding the implementation of RERA in North Eastern states should be resolved to avoid  any uncertainty in the housing sector in that region.
• Government agencies should be made accountable for the delay in granting approvals.
• A robust IT infrastructure should be established for monitoring projects and quick redressal of grievances.
• All concerns of developers should be addressed in a time bound manner to avoid unnecessary litigations in courts.