The Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act (RERA), 2016, is a game-changing regulation for the real estate sector, but it is marred by patchy implementation, said Niranjan Hiranandani.

“In some states where the implementation is not at the level it should be, we see new real estate projects slipping through the regulatory net. It is similar to the challenge of GST and real estate: uniform implementation across different states is needed,” said Hiranandani, who is the National President of NAREDCO and is the co-founder and MD of Hiranandani Group.

In some states, we see that for projects under construction, data is being collected — but not being analysed or shared with all stakeholders. Information Technology (IT) needs to be leveraged, so that data is analysed, numbers are crunched — and the results are acted upon in form of guidelines or new norms to increase the positive effects of RERA.

Accessing information

“We also have a situation in some states where the implementation is not at the levels we would have expected. The problem here is the lack of informative and user-friendly on-line access for home buyers. So, we see in some states that periodic updates on part of the developers and also about some on-going projects are not available on-line,” said Hiranandani.

He added, “Ideally, the huge quantum of data already collected by regulatory authorities across states should be analysed efficiently and made available in simple to understand formats to stakeholders — especially home buyers — so that they are well informed and updated about the general scenario in their State’s real estate. The aspect of ‘information’ and of it reaching those for whom the regulatory regime sought to make these available is something that needs to be expedited in such states.”

Hiranandani said that Maharashtra was “the poster-boy of the successful implementation of RERA”, adding, “There has been an additional layer added to the process in the form of a redressal forum, which seeks to provide an option prior to actually filing a dispute before MahaRERA. This has proven to be a success, with a success rate of over 60 per cent.”

‘Streamlined regulatory regime needed’

On the implementation of the Act, he said “In terms of different states having different set of market functioning — leading to different levels of implementation across states — needs to be streamlined into a single, functional regulatory regime that helps the industry grow in an environment of transparency and accountability on the part of stakeholders.”

On the whole, across the nation, the speed of implementation and extent to which RERA has noticeably impacted real estate varies; but the positivity it brings in is not in doubt. “There is need for an equal implementation across the nation with minor tweaks and changes to make what is accepted as ‘good’ to evolve into ‘better’ – and even, ‘best’,” he said.

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