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Amendments to the Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Bill, 2013, were approved by the Union Cabinet on Tuesday.
The Bill is pending in the Rajya Sabha. The Bill paves the way for the creation of a regulator to protect home buyer interests as well as ensure accountability and transparency. With the amendments the provisions of the Bill are also applicable to commercial real estate.
“Ongoing projects that have not received completion certificates will need to be registered with the regulator within three months,” a statement from the Ministry of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation said.
The Bill envisages setting up of one or more Regulatory Authorities in each State/UT or one Authority for two or more States/UT by the concerned Governments. Developers will be required to register their projects with the Regulatory Authorities and promoters will have to disclose all information regarding the promoters, project, layout plan, schedule of development works, land status, among others.
The proposed amendments also dilute the provision that required the promoter to compulsorily deposit 70 per cent of the amount collected from consumers in a separate account in a scheduled bank within a period of 15 days to cover the cost of construction. Now, it has been proposed that the deposit amount will be 50 per cent of the money collected.
The Bill provides that a promoter will need the consent of 2/3rd of consumers of a project to change plans/structural designs. Also, real estate agents have been made punishable for non-compliance of the orders of Regulatory Authority and Appellate Tribunals to be set up, the statement added.
It also envisages penalty for non-compliance and wrong disclosures. Regulatory Authorities will also have the power of cancellation of registration in case of persistent violations.
One or more adjudicating officers will be appointed to settle disputes and impose compensation and interest. Appeals against adjudicating officer and Regulatory Authority will lie with the Appellate Tribunals to be set up and final appeals will lie only with High Courts, the statement added.
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