With no surety of timely-delivery, change in floor plans and vanishing of developers altogether, the Indian home buyers have been on receiving end for a long time. Well, no more.
RERA or Real estate regulation authority has come as a knight in shining armor for the hackled home buyers. While developers and property dealers usually fudge information about the projects, home buyers now have an unbiased neutral platform to get the right information apart from a redressal forum.
Here are some of the things about RERA every home buyer should be aware of:
- RERA is state-wise unitary. Every state has their own RERA ad its corresponding website. Leaving some north-eastern states and West Bengal, most of the Indian states’ authority is live and is easily accessible.
- All the information regarding projects and developers is available on RERA website for free. All you have to do is to open the website and search for the required project/developer.
Like in UP RERA, city-wise information is also available. Anyone can simply filter the city and have a quick look at every available developer and its housing projects.
- The project’s proposed delivery date is also mentioned on RERA site which may or may not vary from that given by the developer or property dealer. Buyers can now claim compensation in case their projects do not get delivered on time under complaint redressal system.
- The project’s approved floor plan can also be easily downloaded from the websites. And so can a project’s architect certificate, electricity supply plan, and waste dispersal plan.
- A fast-track grievance redressal forum is in place since RERA was implemented. Right now, only a few states have this mechanism. It is the onus of all states to ensure regulators take complaints seriously and deliver judgments in a time-bound manner.
- Always ask for agreement of sale. Section 13 of RERA clearly says, if there is no agreement for sale then there is no question of paying any advance or deposit to the builder.
- Real estate agents are also mandated to register with RERA. Every home buyer should question the agent’s registry number which in turn they can cross-check from the website.
It goes without saying that home buyers should stay away from developers and projects that are still not registered with RERA, no matter how lucrative the deal sounds. Also, one should be aware that if the area of the land to be developed is lower than 500 square meters, or the number of apartments are less than eight, or where completion certificate is received prior to 1 May 2017, then the project need not be required to register with RERA.