The Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act (RERA) has been an earnest attempt to control an industry which had long remained unregulated and opaque. But nearly two years since its inception, though project registrations have improved, the progress has been slow and not met expectations. Setting up permanent regulator and appellate tribunal across States has been disappointing as well. But States such as Maharashtra, Gujarat and Karnataka have implemented RERA; there has been price rationalisation and recovery in the real-estate sector.

RERA is applicable across 28 States and seven union territories (UTs). As many as 23 States and seven UTs have notified general rules, West Bengal has its own real estate regulatory Act — the West Bengal Housing Industry Regulation Act. The four Northeastern States (Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya, Nagaland and Sikkim) have not notified the general rules of RERA mainly due to land-related issues; expectations are that these will be resolved at the earliest.

Current status

As per the latest data available as on April 20, 2019, a total of 39,855 projects are registered across India, a 15 per cent jump in registration since December 2018. Still, the registrations in some States are low.

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Nearly 23 States/UTs have set up an option of registering through web portals. The four North-eastern States, as well as Assam, Kerala and Puducherry have not yet enabled a web portal.

On the status of establishing regulatory authority, 20 States have set up regular (permanent) authority, while eight States, including Goa, Himachal Pradesh, Kerala, Telangana and Assam have only interim (temporary) authority.

The role of the real-estate regulator is to implement rules and regulations in the market and ensure transparency of transactions in the State. Therefore, setting up of a permanent regulatory authority is critical to monitoring the progress of RERA. In the last three to four months, many States have set up permanent real estate regulators, as per RERA. For instance, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Rajasthan had only interim regulator in December 2018, but as of April, they have set up permanent regulator.

Set up of appellate tribunal

But six States are yet to even establish interim regulatory authority; these include Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Meghalaya, Nagaland and Sikkim.

The progress on the establishment of an appellate tribunal is disappointing. As per RERA, every State has to establish an appellate tribunal to address the grievances and ensure timely completion of residential and commercial projects. If a promoter has violated the terms of the agreement or has delayed handing over the projects, the consumer can approach this tribunal and register a complaint. The Appellate tribunal is expected to adjudicate the case within two months.

According to recent data, 14 States — Chhattisgarh, Goa, Assam, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh and the North-eastern States — have not established interim or a permanent appellate tribunal. Therefore, the progress of complaints registered and settled is unknown.

Progress made by Maharashtra on RERA would help other states in facilitating growth and bringing new investments to the real-estate market. The State has registered 20,534 projects and settled 4,325 complaints, out of 6,710.

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