Regional workshop on RERA in Delhi on Nov 15

The Housing and Urban Affairs Ministry is holding a workshop in the national capital for home-buyers, agents, real estate developers and bankers from northern states this week, officials who did not want to be named said.

States expected to be represented at the November 15 workshop include Uttar Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Uttrakhand, Punjab, Haryana, National Capital Territory of Delhi (NCT) and Union Territory of Chandigarh.

The ministry had held similar workshops in Pune and Chennai in September and October, respectively.

Titled 'A New Era of Transparency and Accountability in Real Estate -- 2 Years of Implementation and Way Ahead', the workshop will be held in Vigyan Bhawan.

Both builders and home buyers hope that teething problems will get sorted after the conference.

“The workshop will provide a common platform for developers to sort out problems and challenges concerning RERA implementation. All stakeholders can discuss if some amendments need to be brought about. In some states, registration of properties has become a challenge for developers. Instead of issuing registration numbers, RERA has become a licensing authority. In Haryana, multiple permissions are required before a registration number can be issued and the biggest challenge we face is that of time taken by authorities and the issue of permissions getting lapsed in the process,” says Pravin Jain, Vice-President, National Real Estate Development Council (NAREDCO) and CMD, Tulip Infratech Pvt.

“It has been two years since RERA was implemented. Homebuyers are yet to fully benefit from it due to which a sense of frustration has set in. At the conference, both the Housing Ministry and RERA authorities will get a chance to hear home buyers’ side of the story on a common platform. It is also important that participants are informed much in advance so that they come prepared and share their experience. After the workshop, key takeaways should be looked into and shortcomings bridged so as to reinfuse confidence about RERA among buyers,” says Abhay Upadhyay, President, Forum For People's Collective Efforts.

The Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act, 2016 was enacted two years ago. As many as 13 states and Union territories have appointed a permanent regulator, while 14 have interim regulators. Kerala is in the process of setting up a regulator. As many as 22 states and Union territories have functional web portals under the law.

As many as 32,923 real estate projects have been registered under this legislation across the country. Also, 25,247 real estate agents have been registered under it. Barring West Bengal, six northeastern states and Jammu & Kashmir, all states and Union territories have implemented its provisions.

In the northeast, Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya, Manipur, Mizoram, Nagaland and Sikkim have not notified the legislation due to land-related issues. West Bengal has notified its own version of the Real Estate Act — the Housing and Industrial Regulation Act, 2017 (HIRA).

Vandana.Ramnani@nw18.com