Cabinet approves Odisha apartment bill 2023

According to reliable sources, the Odisha Apartment (Ownership & Management) Bill, 2023 was approved by the state cabinet chaired by chief minister Naveen Patnaik on Thursday. The cabinet approved the apartment bill in order to bring the legislation controlling housing projects in line with the Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act of 2016. The bill requires the formation of associations of allottees of housing projects prior to the first selling deed of any unit in an apartment. The shared parts of the apartment, full property, staircases, and existing facilities were registered proportionally in the name of house buyers. The law will most likely be introduced by the government during the current legislative session. Hearing a PIL on the subject, the Orissa high court expressed hope on Monday that the state government would be ready with the RERA-compliant bill during the current session, which is due to end on April 6. Bimalendu Pradhan, a Bhubaneswar-based apartment owner, has challenged the legitimacy of the Odisha Apartment Ownership (Amendment) Regulations, 2021, claiming that they violate the Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act, 2016. Mohit Agarwal, an advocate, argued on behalf of the petitioner. On May 12, last year, the high court put an immediate halt to the registration of unit sale documents when the builders fail to indicate transfer of common spaces in favour of the Association of Apartment Owners. The HC made it apparent that actual registration of sale deeds in which share of common spaces has been ceded to individual owners cannot be legally sustained because it is contrary with RERA Act requirements. ...

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MahaRERA plans to help kickstart Rs 78,000-crore stalled, lapsed housing project

The Maharashtra Real Estate Regulatory Authority (MahaRERA) is attempting to resurrect stalled and lapsed housing initiatives worth more than Rs 78,000 crore, accounting for roughly one-fifth of such projects in the country. The regulator has formed a special team to investigate the problems with the stalled projects and devise solutions to help them get back on track. This is the first time in the country that a state-specific real estate regulator has organised a special team to resurrect dormant projects. Sanjay Deshmukh, a veteran IAS officer, will lead the new term. Out of the 36,000 projects registered in Maharashtra over the last five years, 4,500, or around 12%, have lapsed, and the state regulatory body's new vertical will assist in resolving the concerns surrounding these projects. Unplanned credit backlogs, issues with the approval procedure, and significant price rises in raw materials have all contributed to the postponement of these projects. "Transparency will be critical in hastening the regulatory process." "We would want sophisticated IT enablement to establish a better Address Resolution Protocol (ARP) that will assist in offering end-to-end solutions," stated Ajoy Mehta, Chairman of MahaRERA. "However, that will require regulatory oversight to monitor the complexities of the projects, and it will become necessary for buyers to play a key role in providing clarity to RERA as well." "With the assistance of MahaRERA and all other stakeholders, there must be a consensus to jointly agree to take a hit in the interest of doing business and, if necessary, to work through joint ventures and other measures to achieve a common goal," stated Boman Irani, President of CREDAI-MCHI. Certain initiatives will be implemented in the next six months to help lay the groundwork for the industry, and particularly MahaRERA, to expedite the resurrection of these delayed projects. ...

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UP-RERA de-registers three housing projects in Ghaziabad over work delay

The Uttar Pradesh Real Estate Regulatory Authority announced on Wednesday that it has immediately cancelled the registration of three incomplete group housing projects in Ghaziabad and frozen their bank accounts to prevent transactions. Antriksh Sanskriti Phase-2, Antriksh Sanskriti Phase-3, and Raksha Vigyaan Sanskriti Phase-2 registrations have been cancelled, and proceedings have been initiated under RERA Section 8, according to the real estate regulatory authority. Section 8 of the UP RERA Act authorises the real estate regulatory authority to delegate completion tasks of stalled housing projects to their buyers' associations. "Multiple complaints were lodged with the Authority under Section 31 of the RERA Act by allottees of two projects of M/s Antriksh Realtek Pvt. Ltd and a project of Raksha Vigyan Karmacharis Sahkaari Samiti Ltd., alleging violation of the agreement/contract with the promoter and delay in construction," the UP RERA said. According to the promoter, construction and development work on Antriksh Sanskriti Phase 2, Phase 3, and Raksha Vigyaan Sanskriti Phase-2 began in 2015, with completion dates of July 2022, July 2022, and June 2023, respectively. "According to the on-site verification report of projects received by UP RERA, construction and development work has been completed up to 40% in Antriksha Sanskriti Phase-2 and up to 30% in Antriksha Sanskriti Phase-3." Surprisingly, construction and development work in Raksha Vigyaan Sanskriti Phase-2 could not begin," the UP RERA stated. "The inspection report also states that all types of construction work on the project site have been closed for many years, making the chances of project completion absolutely uncertain," it said. According to the statement, the order has also barred the project promoters from accessing the UP RERA website in relation to these projects, and they are now listed in the list of "defaulters" with a photo and name. The Authority has decided to freeze project bank accounts in order to prevent any project-related transactions. ...

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MahaREAT directs Aishwarya Light Construction to pay buyers for delayed possession

The Maharashtra Real Estate Appellate Authority (MahaREAT) directed a developer to pay a couple interest for delayed possession from January 1, 2018, until it is actually handed over, observing that a flat buyer cannot be forced to wait indefinitely for possession of the property. The June 17 order was issued in response to Jervis and Rose Creado's appeal of the Maharashtra Real Estate Regulatory Authority's (MahaRERA) December 24, 2019, order, which directed the developer, Aishwarya Light Construction Company, to execute a registered agreement for sale but refused the couple interest or compensation under Section 18 of the Real Estate Regulation Act for delayed possession because there was no registered agreement showing any date of possession. The couple paid Rs 80 lakh for a 466-square-foot flat with an open parking space in Aishwarya Heights in Majas, Andheri. The developer issued an allotment letter in February 2017 and executed an unregistered agreement for sale to hand over possession by December 2017. The Creados filed a complaint with MahaRERA after neither the agreement nor possession had been registered. The developer was not present prior to MahaREAT. Creados' lawyer, Godfrey Pimenta, argued that there is no word "registered" in Section 18 and that interest for delayed possession cannot be denied to allottees simply because there is no registered agreement for sale. Members S S Sandhu and Shriram Jagtap stated that the record clearly shows that one of the four partners executed an unregistered agreement with the Creados, revealing December 2017 as the possession date and binding on the developer. "Aside from that, we believe that a person cannot be forced to wait indefinitely for possession of the flat allotted to him and is entitled to seek relief in the form of a refund of the amount paid by him or interest on the said amount due to delayed possession," they added. Despite the developer's failure to complete the project on time, the members noted that MahaRERA refused to grant interest on investment. "As a result, we believe that the allottees are entitled to interest on their investments beginning in January 2018," they concluded, directing interest at SBI's highest marginal cost lending rate plus 2% on the amount paid and Rs 10,000 towards litigation costs. ...

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UP RERA to use provisions of civil procedure code for implementation of its orders.

The Uttar Pradesh Real Estate Regulatory Authority (UP RERA) has resolved to utilise the provisions of the Civil Procedure Code (CPC) for order implementation and to delegate authority to adjudicating officers for strict enforcement. In the 94th meeting of the authority, a more effective policy for enforcement of orders made by RERA on complaints of allottes was laid forth. Section-40(1) of the RERA Act and Rule-23 of the UP RERA provide for the recovery of amounts owed to allottees by the promoter, such as arrears of land revenue. Recovery of amounts received by allottees under UP RERA orders is being collected through the concerned District Magistrates, such as arrears of land revenue, and till now in 1790 cases Rs 282 crore has been recovered and transferred to the complainant/allottees' accounts. In addition, many complaints have resulted in settlements totaling Rs 475 crore. Section-40(2) of the RERA Act and Rule-24 of the U.P. provide legal provisions for the implementation of other RERA orders, such as grant of possession to allottees and registration of allottee units. RERA Regulations. Rule-24 specifies that such orders shall be implemented by RERA in the same manner as if the order in question was a decree of the major civil court. RERA has implemented about 3000 orders out of the 5586 applications received for order implementation, accounting for approximately 54 percent of the requests received for order implementation. RERA is directed to submit the compliance report of the order within 15 days of receiving the application for implementation of the order from the complaint by sending a notice to the promoter and the concerned Bench in case of non-compliance of the order by the promoter despite RERA's notice. The process of implementation is being taken, after hearing both the sides. Normally, after the project is completed, possession is given to the complainants/buyers in accordance with RERA rules. However, in some cases the authority has noted that even after acquiring the "Occupancy Certificate", allottees are encountering problems in getting the possession. "The decision was reached to make the mechanism of implementation of such orders more resilient and effective. RERA will take action in such circumstances under the authority granted by Order 21 of the CPC (Civil Procedure Code). To carry out RERA's possession and registry orders, appropriate steps will be taken to attach the property in question, appoint a receiver, have the registry executed through the receiver, and transfer over ownership "stated the authority Former district judges who work in the NCR and Lucknow offices of U.P. RERA shall be referred and authorised to take the above action. Higher penalties will be levied for non-compliance with RERA directives against promoters who, despite project completion, are evasive in giving possession to allottees. ...

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RERA gets its own central advisory council

Good news for buyers has been spread as a wildfire in realty sector. Central government of India has constituted an advisory body for Real Estate Regulatory Authority, which is “Central Advisory Council (CAC)”. The main purpose for setting up this body is providing proper protection to customers (homebuyers) with the right implementation of RERA across the country. This body will have the “Minister of State for Housing and Urban Affairs as the Chairperson with other 30 members in total. A gazette notification mentioned that 8 members, who will be the part of council body, are from central government departments like; CEO of Niti Aayog, Secretaries of Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, Department of Revenue, Economic Affairs, Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion and Ministry of corporate Affairs. It will also consist of different Chairpersons of different states RERA like; Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Assam, Gujarat, Maharashtra. This council truly believes in preserving buyers faith in government system and this proves, as it consists Abhay Upadhyay, President, Forum for People’s Collective Efforts (FPCE) and Chairman of Federation of Apartment Owners’ Association who will represent homebuyers’ on the council. This forum  won’t leave representative of real estate brokers and construction workers behind. Five states which are Haryana, Odisha, Uttar Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and National Capital Territory of Delhi will be represented in this council through their representatives. The list cannot be completed without including the Managing Director of National Housing Bank (NHB) and CMD of Housing and Urban Development Council in the CAC. ...

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Approved only 72 projects : MahaRERA

  After the passage of 7 weeks, only 72 projects approved under RERA with around 88 applications received so far.   Developers cautious   Rajesh Prajapati, Chairman, PR, and Media Committee of the Confederation of Real Estate Developers’ Association of India (CREDAI), said, “It takes time for the market to digest any new rules. In this case, not only do we have to upload our financial documents but also the carpet area as per RERA norms. There is no scope to make mistakes and hence the developers are being cautious. All the developers are currently busy getting all the systems in place. We still need clarity from the regulator on a number of aspects.” When Chairman was asked about his verdict over the pace of registration, “It is essential to register before July 31 and we expect a spike in registrations next month, with at least 35,000-40,000 projects applying for registration by the end of July.”   Transparency   Pankaj Kapoor of Real Estate Research firm says about the pace of the registration  “The regulator has made more details public than what the developer would be comfortable with. Developers may have been deliberating with the government in order to have some rules relaxed but so far the government has been taking the side of the consumer.” Calling it to be a sluggish one. Kapoor points out the last minute rush that may result due to delayed registration. About 5,000 under construction projects under Mumbai Metropolitan Region alone stand unregistered triggering the chances of system failures due to last minute registration. He states about extensions of the date 31st July which was earlier decided to be the deadline for registration. Agents seem more alert about RERA with about 2,185 applications with about 1,950 had received approval.  ...

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