The Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act 2016 (RERA) has become effective from May 1. This particular Act has been brought to empower the consumers when it comes to real estate. Rera also aims to promote the real estate sector and to ensure the sale of properties through efficient and transparent means. It also aims for a speedy dispute redressal.

Here we are going to tell you about a few important rules of RERA.

Informing the buyer at the time of booking: At the time of the booking and issuing the allotment letter, the promoter will be responsible for informing the applicant of sanctioned plan, layout plans, along with specifications which have been approved by the proper authority. The applicant will also be informed regarding stage wise time schedule of completion of the project.

Booking amount: As of now, a majority of the builders ask for more than 10 per cent of the total cost of the property as a booking amount. The “agreement of sale” is prepared at a much later date. As per the RERA, the builder cannot ask for more than 10 per cent of the total amount as an advance payment, without entering into a registered agreement of sale. To keep builders in check, each tower/phase within a project has to be independently registered.

Ongoing projects: RERA not only covers new launches, it also covers on-going projects. Promoters have been given three months to get their on-going projects registered with RERA i.e. July 31st, 2017. For this purpose, the builder will have to make public all the original sanctioned plan with specifications of the changed which have been made later.

Registration of projects: If you are planning to buy a property after May 1st, 2017, then make sure that it is registered with RA. Once the RA is confirmed, builders will be required to register their products with it by furnishing all the information, which includes financial statements, a copy of legal title deed and other documents.

Online information: Once the builder has registered with the RA, he will be given a log-in ID and a password to create a page on RA’s website to upload product related information. This information will show a quarterly up-to-date list of numbers and types of apartment or plots.

Home buying advertisement: No promoter shall advertise, market, book, sell or offer for sale, or invite persons to purchase in any manner any plot, apartment or building, as the case may be, in any real estate project or part of it, in any planning area, without registering the real estate project with RERA under this Act. You must know that each advertisement has to carry the RERA registration number.

The quality of construction: Indian home owners/buyers’ biggest concern has always been the quality of construction. There has been a genuine concern with several builders and some of them are the biggest name in the industry. Unless and until you are buying a luxury property, the quality of construction is usually bad. In order to counter this, RERA provides protection up to five years after the possession. In case there is a structural defect or quality/ provision of services is not good or any other obligations of the promotor as per the agreement, it will be the duty of promoter/builder to rectify such defects with charging any further.

Delayed Delivery: Another aspect which has been troubling the consumer is the delayed delivery. In this case, almost all the builders are known to deliver their products late. In case the builder fails to deliver on time, the consumer will be compensated. The builder will not only have to return the entire amount, he will also have to pay the interest for every month, until the time of the possession.

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