6 States Cross The Deadline; Fail To Get Their Real Estate Act Together

Profit margins of India's real estate developers have been consistently thinning. Numbers in PropTiger DataLab's quarterly report show home sales declined four per cent in the April-June quarter of the financial year 2017-18 when compared to the same quarter the previous year while prices have remained stable. Times are likely to get tougher for developers in the ongoing quarter as forecast in the report—“Overall sentiment in this quarter (the second quarter) will be low, especially for the month of July and August.”

"Despite the government pushing the states for the implementation of the Real Estate Regulatory Authority (RERA) , several states are yet to implement the Act,” said the report released in late July. “The quarter will also see the impact of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) on sales as developers are still not in a position to arrive accurately at input tax credit,” the report adds.

Not ready to get their Act together

It was mandatory for real estate developers to register their “ongoing projects” with state real estate regulatory authorities concerned, as mandated by the Real Estate (Regulation & Development) Act, 2016 ─ the law came into effect on May 1 this year, and developers had time till July 31 to register their projects. Unfortunately, even if promoters are ready with everything to become RERA-complaint, states are not.

Here is the update:

As on August 1, only 23 states and union territories – India has a total of 35 states and UTs excluding Jammu & Kashmir –have already notified rules and have set up interim or permanent authorities.

Only Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Punjab have been able to set up a permanent regulatory authority, government update on the matter says. Thirteen states and six UTs have formed interim regulators.  

Because of the complexity of land laws that pose constitutional challenges, north eastern states of Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland and Sikkim are still examining provisions. The work is “in progress”.

States that have not been able to notify the rules but have drafted them include Goa, Himachal Pradesh, Kerala, Telangana, Tripura and West Bengal.

After objections were made in its version of the law, Uttar Pradesh has decided to re-notify the law while an interim authority has been set and the process to register projects has been initiated.

Only seven states have started the online project registration so far.

Nine states and UTs have appointed interim Appellate Tribunal under the Real Estate Act.

Also Read: Everything Homebuyers Need To Know About RERA

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Here's a look at what the states are up to as on the beginning of July 2017.

Uttar Pradesh: The state had notified rules in December 2016, but the new government which assumed office in March 2017, wanted to tweak rules to homebuyers' benefit. Henceforth, there has been a lull.

Andhra Pradesh: The state has notified its final rules in March this year but the website is not ready yet.

Bihar: The state notified its rules in April this year but the website is not ready. You can access the rules here.

Karnataka: The state government has passed the RERA rules.

Kerala: The website of Kerala Real Estate Regulatory Authority is up and running and former Chief Town Planner, Sri S Ajayakumar is the Chairman.

Odisha: The rules have been notified but the regulator has not been set up.

Rajasthan: By October 2016, Rajasthan had uploaded its state RERA rules and invited public scrutiny and comments. The regulatory body is yet to take shape. Check out Rajasthan RERA rules here.

Uttarakhand: You can view the state RERA rules here. Although a dedicated website has not come out, Uttarakhand's Housing and Urban Development Department has uploaded all registration forms required for local developers, agents and projects.

Maharashtra: MahaRERA has already gone online with Shri Gautam Chatterjee as its first chairman. Maharashtra was the first state to kick start with a fully operational regulatory body in the state this year.

Tamil Nadu: The state has notified its rules although the website is not ready.

Madhya Pradesh: The state is quite in line with RERA provisions. Retired IAS, Anthony de Sa is the first chairman of the state regulator.

All the union territories are in tune with the RERA provisions as laid down by the Union government.

With inputs from Sneha Sharon Mammen