Registration of 291 projects will be revoked if penalty not paid, warns MahaRERA

In the third week of September, MahaRERA suspended the registration of 363 real estate projects registered with the authority for failing to comply with the RERA provisions and provide a quarterly update on the progress of their projects

Mumbai: Hardening its stand on non-complying developers, the state housing regulator MahaRERA on Monday said the registrations of 291 projects will be revoked if they fail to pay the designated penalty and provide the Quarterly Progress Reports (QPRs) of their projects.

Mumbai, India - July 13, 2022: South Tower building (extreme right) under construction by Glider Buildcon Realtors Pvt. Ltd. and Omkar House at Saat Rasta near Mahalaxmi, in Mumbai, India, on Wednesday, July 13, 2022. (Photo by Pratik Chorge/Hindustan Times) (HT PHOTO)

In the third week of September, MahaRERA suspended the registration of 363 real estate projects registered with the authority for failing to comply with the RERA provisions and provide a quarterly update on the progress of their projects. These projects, which were registered in January 2023, were due to provide information by April on the status of the construction, the number of apartments booked, funds collected from these bookings and expenditures during the quarter, any changes in the approved building plans etc.

This information is in Forms 1, 2, and 3, and developers have to update this information every quarter on the MahaRERA portal under the Financial Quarter-Based Project Progress Reporting System put in place by the authority this year.

“Out of the 363 projects, 72 projects have paid the penalty of ₹50,000 and submitted the requisite forms. Twenty-seven of these projects are located in the Pune district, 23 in the Konkan region, 14 in Nagpur, seven in Nashik and two in Aurangabad. These forms are being evaluated and verified. The rest of the 291 projects have not responded yet,” said a senior MahaRERA official.

The registrations of these 363 projects were kept in abeyance, their bank accounts were frozen, and the registrar’s offices were told not to suspend the registration of Agreement for Sale pertaining to the suspended project, virtually bringing to a stop the market and sales of these projects. If these projects have to restart work, they have to re-register with MahaRERA putting in place all the compliances.

The RERA provisions mandate that ongoing real estate projects provide transparent information about the financial details, approvals, construction progress and sales so that home buyers can make an informed decision on their investments. MahaRERA has now also brought a QR-code-based mechanism to enable easy access from mobile phones to the information on the portal. From January onwards, the Authority also plans to grade housing projects based on various parameters to enable home buyers to invest in best-rated projects.