RERA Will Eventually Cover All Projects, Says Puri

It has been two years since the real estate law came into force, but several states have yet to fully establish the infrastructure required for the functioning of the Real Estate Regulatory Authority (RERA). Once states are able to achieve that, the government plans to widen the scope of the Real Estate (Regulation & Development) Act, 2016.

Housing Minister Hardeep Singh Puri on August 29 said all real estate projects would eventually come under the ambit of the law once states were ready with the infrastructure required for the law to function, which was launched with much fanfare in 2016 and was touted to guard the interest of homebuyers at a time when project delays became the keyword defining India’s real estate sector.

“Eventually, all the real estate projects will come under the Act once its mechanism is established in all states,” Puri said.  

“There have been some attempts at tweaking the Act so far as ongoing projects are concerned. As mechanisms are being set up are being established in states, all projects will get covered by the law… it is going in that direction,” the minister said.

On August 21, the Gurgaon Bench of the Haryana RERA had also ruled that all real estate projects fall within the purview of the Act.

The RERA could adjudicate any dispute between a seller and a buyer in a real estate project, even if the project had received a completion certificate before the law was enforced, the Bench ruled. Under the current law, only under-construction projects fall under the ambit of the Act.

However, the Bench invoked Section 11 of the Act that a project promoter had to fulfill all sale agreement obligations and it did not exclude projects which were not registered with the regulatory authority.