RERA Master

Recently in the case of Shalabh Nigam vs Orris Infrastructure Pvt. Ltd. & Ors. , the Apex Consumer Commission (NCDRC) , giving hope to lakhs of aggrieved homebuyers, has quantified a time period of one year for delayed projects beyond which homebuyers/investors can claim refund from builders. The Hon’ble Supreme Court and Consumer Courts have repeatedly held that homebuyers cannot be made to wait indefinitely, but the issue relating to when refund can be claimed in case of delay was not clarified. The plea was preferred by a Delhi resident Shalabh Nigam, who booked a flat in 2012 in the luxury housing project, Greenopolis, in Gurgaon being developed by Orris Infrastructure and 3C Company. The Buyer had made a payment of around Rs 90 lakh against the total cost of around Rs 1 crore. As per the Builder-Buyer Agreement, the flat was to be handed over within 36 months, with a grace period of six months, from the date of allotment. The Buyer approached NCDRC   seeking its d

The Bombay High Court while deciding the case of Lavasa Corporation that is developed under the township project in the Pune stated that RERA needs to apply for the cases based on the long-term agreements. The court has held that RERA applies to the said case wherein the citizens are seeking compensation due to the delay in having 3 flats in Lavasa Township as they have paid more than 80% of the purchase price to the builder and the project is yet to be completed. Lavasa Corporation filed the appeals challenging the orders that have been passed by Maharashtra RERA Appellate Tribunal this year. Under the  RERA Act , minimum of 70% of buyers’ money is kept in a separate account. Money is the said account is to be used by the builders to easily enable the construction on the land that is related. The appeal of Lavasa Corporation was aimed at claiming relief on the ground that neither the provisions of RERA apply in the case of Lease Agreements nor does the definition of '

The Real Estate (Regulation and Development), Act, (RERA) came into effect from May 1, 2017 and recently marked its 2 nd anniversary . 2 years after the RERA   was enacted, the implementation of the legislation intended to bring about transparency and regulate the highly unorganized real estate sector still remains a work in progress. The RERA rules have been notified in 22 states and 6 union territories. 19 states have active online portals. 5 states have not yet notified the rules and 11 states – all the eight northeastern states as well as West Bengal and  Kerala  are yet to set up their web portals. The legislation is certainly a ‘work in progress’ one. Several states have also diluted the rules in favor of the builders, going against the very spirit of the Act. On one hand, Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh have taken the lead and are markedly ahead, while Haryana and Bengal on the other, have still to catch up. West Bengal has refused to implement the Act as

Witnessing the real estate sector today, choosing a builder can be a very big and important task as your lifetime savings might be on stake, therefore, you are required to be a little more conscious and all that is needed is some good amount of research that will land you just in your dream home. Here is your guide to choose your builder: 1. Do your research. The most important thing is research. Read about different builders online, go through newspapers on real estate, visit fairs on real estate, talk to good & experienced real estate agents and other people having good knowledge like homebuyers. 2. Make a List of Builders Once you are done with researching, make a list of builders you are interested in and most likely to invest your money with. Find the details of their existence and since when they have been into this business. Connect with them and gather relevant information like quotes. Ask for the fixed quote and not the estimates. It will help you to cho

Using deceptive terms to deceive home-buyers is a common practice in the real estate industry. The terms usually used by the developers in the Builder-Buyer Agreement can be tricky for those who don’t understand their actual meaning. Here are some of the important terms every investor/home-buyer in the real estate industry shall be aware of: CARPET AREA It is the net usable floor area of an apartment, excluding the area covered by the external walls, areas under services shafts, exclusive balcony or verandah area and exclusive open terrace area, but includes the area covered by the internal partition walls of the apartment. BUILT-UP AREA Built-up area is the area that comes after adding carpet area and wall area. The wall area is the thickness of the inner walls of a unit. The built-up area also consists of other areas mandated by the authorities, such as a dry balcony, flower beds, etc. SUPER BUILT-UP AREA Super Built-up area is the area calculated by adding the b

The GST Act mandates the builders to pass on GST benefits to the buyers paying GST on purchase of property. While the overall cost of construction seems to have gone down under the GST regime on account of additional input tax credit for builders, the intent to pass on the benefit of lower cost to the property buyer still seems to be missing from the market. In order to ensure that homebuyers get this benefit, the government has started questioning developers/builders who are not passing on the reduced rates and additional input tax credit (ITC). The National Anti-Profiteering Authority (NAPA) has imposed a penalty on a Gurgaon-based real estate developer Pyramid Infratech for not passing on the benefits under the Goods and Services Tax (GST) regime. The builder was asked by the Authority to refund within 3 months over Rs 8.22 crore to about 2,476 buyers with an additional 18 % interest. The Directorate General of Anti-Profiteering (DGAP) is investigating over 50 prop

After coming into force of Real Estate Regulation Act (RERA) the Government also opened doors for more NRI investment in the Real Estate Sector. Earlier, the Non-Resident Indians [NRIs] use to think twice before investing in the Indian Real Estate market due to various reasons. But, today, RERA has become a reason for an increase in NRIs Investment in the real estate sector. Some of the benefits of RERA to NRI Buyers are:   TIMELY POSSESSION The RERA Act has encouraged many Non-Resident Indians to own property here as now these people need not to run behind the builders to get the timely possession of their home. Real Estate Developers are totally liable for completing the project without any repercussions. Now, there needs to be less responsibility for the buyers to be worried to push the builders on completing the projects. INCREASED FAITH The availability of accurate property related information online and property ownership in the due time increase the fait