H-Rera sends notice to developer for selling units in unregistered real estate project

Haryana-Real Estate Regulatory Authority(H-Rera) in Gurugram has directed builders to refrain from selling apartments and plots before registering them with the real estate regulator

Haryana-Real Estate Regulatory Authority(H-Rera) in Gurugram has directed builders to refrain from selling apartments and plots before registering them with the real estate regulator. The authority on Friday issued a notice to the developer of Adani M2K project in Sector 102A for neither seeking permission from H-Rera nor registering the project before launching it in the market and opening units for booking — both of which are against the rules. The action was taken after a decoy customer was sent to a property dealer, who helped him to book a project in the unregistered project.

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“A decoy customer was sent to the property dealer. The customer paid the booking money in both cash and cheque, and he was allotted booking. This is illegal as the project has no registration, no permission and is only on papers of the developer. Such practices would not be tolerated and a heavy penalty will be imposed on the violators,” said Dr KK Khandelwal, chairman, H-Rera, Gurugram.

The authority has also directed penal proceedings to be initiated against the developer. The penalty of violations may go up to ₹12 crore against the promoter and ₹2.7 crore against the real estate agent. The authority said that a show-cause notice has been issued to promoter and they have been directed to produce records pertaining to the properties they have sold.

Khandelwal said that it is mandatory under the H-Rera Act for all commercial and residential real estate projects, where the land is over 500 square metres, or eight apartments, to register with the authority for launching a project, in order to ensure a greater transparency in marketing and execution of the project.

“It has been observed that not only the promoters but also property dealers are involved in such unscrupulous activities. They not only try to sell unregistered projects but also do not care to get themselves registered with the authority. The act itself mandates that no real estate agent can participate in the advertisement, marketing, or sale of any project without getting himself or his association registered with H-Rera,” said Khandelwal.

Despite repeated phone calls and messages, a representative of the developer did not respond to a request for comment on the matter.