The Maharashtra Real Estate Regulatory Authority (MahaRERA) may consider imposing a penalty on non-compliant real estate projects in Maharashtra if they do not comply after multiple notices.
Only 20 percent of the 19,000 projects which were issued notices by the regulator over non-compliance two months back have complied, and MahaRERA has now started issuing a second reminder to around 15,000 projects that remain non-compliant.
The MahaRERA said if there is no compliance by developers despite multiple notices, they will explore the option of imposing a penalty.
Between January 10 and February 10, MahaRERA issued notices to 19,539 real estate projects in the state over non-compliance relating to failure from uploading details like financial disclosures, CA certificates and architect certifications on its website citing non-compliance.
According to MahaRERA, after the notices, over 3,000 projects have done satisfactory compliance. Out of the remaining 15,000 projects, second reminder notices have been issued to over 8,000 projects, said a top MahaRERA official not wishing to be named.
He said if there is no compliance despite the second reminder notice, a third final notice will be issued post which suo-motu action can be considered by the Board of MahaRERA, including imposing a penalty over non-compliance.
What compliance is mandatory?
After registering any real estate project with RERA, as per Section 11 of the RERA Act, the project developer is required to update the information given at the time of registration on the RERA website every three months. Based on these updates, homebuyers and potential homebuyers are kept informed about the project status and finances of the projects.
Over 40,000 projects have been registered in the state in the last six years.
75-80 percent of projects non-compliant
The MahaRERA said on February 17 that around 75 to 80 percent of ongoing registered projects in Maharashtra do not regularly upload quarterly progress reports on the project status and finances. Owing to this, the complete data pertaining to a particular project was unavailable in the public domain on the MahaRERA website. Currently, 21,500 projects are ongoing in the state.
What are the violations?
According to the RERA Act, every developer is required to keep 70 percent of the money received from customers in a separate account.
When the money is withdrawn at each stage of construction, a certificate from the project engineer, architect and chartered accountant on the percentage of project completion, quality and unrealised cost must be submitted to the bank. A quarterly inventory of flats and plots sold in the project has to be posted on the website.
It is also mandatory for every developer to get the project account audited every six months. MahaRERA, however, found that in many projects this was not done. Owing to this, and considering several other violations, MahaRERA has issued notices to such projects.
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