MahaRERA issues draft guidelines for developers of senior citizen housing projects

The draft guidelines details out minimum physical criteria that every project must meet, including building’s construction norms as per the needs of senior citizens. The minimum physical specification includes building design, green building principles, lifts and ramps, staircase, corridors, lighting and ventilation, safety and security.

The Maharashtra Real Estate Regulatory Authority (MahaRERA) has floated the draft model guidelines to ensure housing projects for retired and senior citizens are designed keeping in mind their basic requirements. The move makes MahaRERA the first housing regulatory body in India to promulgate provisions for housing projects for the retired.

MahaRERA aims to ensure that the senior citizens should have the required facilities after they move into such housing projects.

Once the guidelines are implemented, the developers will have to include some of the special provisions in the Agreement for Sale and other relevant documents. Henceforth, senior citizen housing projects will have to be built as per the model guidelines, the regulator said in a statement.

The draft also lists the minimum physical criteria that every project must meet, including building’s construction norms as per the needs of senior citizens. The specifications include building design, green building principles, lifts and ramps, staircase, corridors, lighting and ventilation, safety and security.

The draft on “regulation of retirement homes” is available on MahaRERA’s website for which the regulator has called for suggestions, which can be mailed to suggestions.maharera@gmail.com by February 29.

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The model guidelines were drafted after MahaRERA received feedback that many developers were wrongly advertising their real estate projects as 'Retirement Homes' and thereby misleading the prospective homebuyers. It has also been brought to the notice that several of these projects do not adhere to the bare minimum standards and specifications required for senior citizen residences, the regulator said in the statement.

"Retired, senior housing projects are becoming a necessity of the changing society. Many developers are launching such projects in view of the rising demand, but these constructions do not seem to take into account the very basic needs of this segment," MahaRERA Chairman Ajoy Mehta said.

"To avoid possible fraud and disappointment of retirees and senior citizens, MahaRERA has issued the Draft Model Guidelines for this emerging segment of housing projects. MahaRERA is endeavouring towards finalising the framework and implementing them at the earliest."

The Union Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA) too had issued model guidelines and suggested that the respective state regulators should take appropriate steps to introduce the regulations. Accordingly, MahaRERA has formulated a draft regulation on retired homes.

Some of the important provisions in the model guidelines include points like a building of more than one floor should have an elevator, all lifts should have audio visual system, easy wheelchair access to enter and exit the lift, mandatory ramps for unhindered wheelchair access, width of stairs should not be less than 1500 mm, handrails should be fitted on both sides of the staircase, and the staircase should not have more than 12 steps.