With the sole purpose of safeguarding the interests of home buyers, Maharashtra Real Estate Regulatory Authority (MahaRERA), the state’s regulatory body in 2023 established standard operating procedures for developers to follow and strictly adhere.
Ajoy Mehta, chairman of the MahaRERA said, “In 2024, too, RERA Act will be implemented in letter and spirit. Accountability will be fixed on the developers to ensure maximum transparency in the sector. Our target is to make this sector litigation free.”
Two major decisions for 2024
In 2024, two major decisions are on the cards. After consultation with all the stake holders including developers MahaRERA will soon be launching a Project Grading System in April 2024 whereby projects will be graded periodically in a scientific manner and will be made public.
Also construction of projects will henceforth be monitored with third party audit. “At every stage of the project, there will checks to identify any lacunae in the construction”, a press note issued by the regulatory body said.
MahaRERA studied projects on three aspects
To ensure maximum accountability, in 2023, MahaRERA scrutinised all the projects that came for registration on three grounds - legal, financial and technical.
On the legal front the body ensured that the projects were on legal plots of land and the size of the plot that the builder mentioned in his registration application was correct.
Technically, MahaRERA made it mandatory for developers to submit all the necessary permissions for construction from the Mumbai Municipal Corporation including the Cersai Certificate and the Commencement Certificate. "These were scrutinised the body closely to ensure that the developer was not exceeding his limit - if he had permission for 20 storeys MahaRERA ensured he was not committing to 50 storeys or if the plot size was one acre he was not committing to three acres,” the press note said.
Plus it was mandatory for builders to submit their DIN Number which gives the entire background of all the directors of that real estate firm. “This also helps us to gauge whether the developer is financially capable of delivering on the ground”, the note added.
MahaRERA makes features in sales agreement mandatory
Another major decision that the regulatory body took was to make certain features in the sales agreement mandatory. “Four items are mandatory and non-negotiable in the agreement that a builder enters into with the buyer during the sale of property. They include:
1) Defect Liability Period whereby after giving possession of the flat to the buyer, the developer has to take responsibility for a stipulated period of time (about 5 years) for any problems that may crop up in the property. He will then have to rectify and the repair the same free of cost to the buyer, the press note adds.
2) Carpet area of the property sold must be specified in the agreement.
3) Act of God must only imply natural calamities like earthquakes, corona, etc. They do not include force measure like Occupation Certificate not received, etc.
4) Define Period: The developer has to set up a housing society for the home buyers to ensure there is steady maintenance of the building.
In addition, the developer has to give the purchaser an allotment letter during the sale of the flat. This must include, flat number, carpet area, parking and possession date.
Body appoints monitoring cell
MahaRERA has appointed a monitoring cell that scrutinises the quarterly and annual Progress Reports of the builder. It may be recalled that 313 projects were red flagged where six months had already passed to possession, 80 per cent of money spent but not even 50 per cent of the building construction was complete following which MahaRERA issued notices to these developers.
The press note further said, the regulatory body has also appointed a special monitoring cell to ensure that the home buyer was given proper compensation in case the commitments were not met. If compensation is not fulfilled within six months, as per the standard operating procedure, RERA has to prepare a warrant which will be sent to concerned collector who will then help with the recovery process. A special Retired Additional Collector has been appointed for this purpose, the note said.
The body has also made it mandatory for developers to appoint customer grievance cells with dedicated customer care officers to address the issues of buyers. Their contact details must be prominently displayed both at the project site and on the internet.
A special customer and developer counselling unit too has been set up at RERA Headquarters and over 1,500 people per month came for redressal of their issues.
