Home buyers breathe relief as RERA set to be implemented from today

The Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act aka RERA would be implemented from today onwards, providing relief to home buyers. However, several states have missed their October deadline and have not yet notified their final RERA rules.

These states include Assam, Tripura, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, Mizoram, Jharkhand, Telangana, West Bengal and Chhattisgarh, even though they have readied their draft rules. All states were given six months of time after the act was notified on May 1.

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"New era begins as #RERA comes into force. Clock begins to tick for registration of projects by developers. #RERA promotes accountability, transparency & efficiency in the sector. Buyer set to be King. Promoter benefits from king's confidence," Venkaiah Naidu, Union Minister of Urban Development, Housing And Urban Poverty Alleviation, said in a tweet.

States of Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Chandigarh and Orissa have finalised their rules.

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Even though several states have not finalised their rules, homebuyers are happy that the central government is implementing RERA nonetheless.

"We thank the central government for ensuring that RERA comes in full force from May 1, 2017. It will bring in drastic changes for the better in real estate industry by eradicating malpractices and bringing complete transparency.

However, the dark patch in the whole process is in the way the states are diluting their Real Estate Rules in favour of developers by going overboard to please their developer friends. This has the potential to render RERA completely redundant if corrective steps are not taken forthwith," Abhay Upadhyay, National Convenor of Fight For RERA, a pan-India homebuyers' group, told ET.

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