16000 developers get a notice from MahaRERA

ReRA is a government authority that regulates real estate transactions. It seeks to bring about transparency in dealings, quick settlements for disputes, speedy exchange of land and easily available land history. It came into effect on May 01, 2017. The full form is Real Estate Regulatory Authority and every state in India is required to have one. The body in Maharashtra is known as MahaReRA and every project whether commercial or residential is required to be registered under it. This registration protects the consumer’s interest and enhances transparency in this sector. It applies to all new projects in Mumbai as well as all of Maharashtra.

MahaReRa has processed tens of thousands of applications since it came into effect and accounts for 60% of the total registrations in India. MahaRERA now aims to make the process of buying or selling a property in Maharashtra, whether urban or rural, very easy, fast and most importantly very transparent. It intends to make all details available online and thus cut down on the long procedures for obtaining land records. It will streamline all processes related to real estate and attract increased investment in the real estate sector. Under RERA rules, the developers have to update the buyers about the status of the property and its progress every 3 months and financial details have to be provided annually.  Those who have paid several crores for luxury homes in Mumbai can now see where their money has been put to use.

In conjunction with this, MahaRERA examined the records of all ongoing developments and found that many had not updated the mandatory project information as per Section 11 of the Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act, 2016. Immediate Showcause notices were delivered to 19500 promoters and out of those almost 16000 have either not responded to these notices or have submitted unsatisfactory responses. As a step towards enabling the Close Monitoring system, a second Showcause notice was sent to these 16000 developers and promoters to furnish details as per the requirements. They were warned that serious cognizance was being taken of the general apathy towards buyers and they should no longer be cheated or taken undue advantage of. There are over a lakh of residential projects that have been stuck at various stages due to insufficient funds or for matters under litigation. These are worth crores of rupees, almost all paid for by the buyer. Thus, to protect the buyer’s investment MahaRERA introduced the mandatory filing of status reports so that customers have reliable information about the project they have invested in.  Those that have failed to do so, have been issued these Showcause notices as well.

Promoters and developers were given 15 days to respond to Showcause notices received and comply with requirements or face strict consequences which could include the imposition of high penalties or even cancellation of the project license and registration. In the words of a state RERA regulator, “Home buyers and real estate investors should not be cheated. Their investment should be safe and protected. For that, a built-in discipline should be created in the real estate sector”. So for those who are looking to invest in new developments in Mumbai, take a quick look at the MahRERA website to learn all you can about the project before you put in your money.