UP rolls out RERA rules to protect homebuyers

In good news to homebuyers in Noida and Ghaziabad, the Uttar Pradesh housing and urban planning department rolled out the Uttar Pradesh (Regulation & Development) Rules, 2016, on Tuesday.

In good news to homebuyers in Noida and Ghaziabad, the Uttar Pradesh housing and urban planning department rolled out the Uttar Pradesh (Regulation & Development) Rules, 2016, on Tuesday.

The UP Rules have defined the ‘ongoing projects’ as ones where development is going on and for which the completion certification has not been issued (Burhaan Kinu/Hindustan Times)

The Centre had also on Monday finalised the rules under the landmark realty law that will not only protect new homebuyers from unscrupulous developers but also safeguard the interest of allottees of ongoing projects.

The rules were finalised and notification was issued on October 27.

Ongoing projects

The rules by the Centre have cleared the opacity around ongoing projects that have not received completion certificates till now.

On the other hand, the UP Rules have defined the ‘ongoing projects’ as ones where development is going on and for which the completion certification has not been issued.

However, this comes with several exclusions like projects where services have been handed over to the local authorities (like RWAs) for maintenance.

“We had opposed the latter (RWA clause) earlier too. It is because there are many instances where builders refused to run the maintenance of projects and RWAs had to take over the maintenance to run the essential services. In many cases, only the maintenance and services were taken up, and not the project,” said Alok Kumar, founder, federation of association of apartment owners, Ghaziabad.

Refund

As per the UP Rules, any refund of money along with applicable interest and compensation, in terms of the Act or rules and regulations, is payable to the allottee within 45 days from the date on which such refund becomes due.

“It is a major step towards the protection of the homebuyers as many of them have waited for years to get possession or the refund. Once we find that changes in the rules are needed further or they are weak, we will further approach the highest authorities to get them modified,” said Abhishek Kumar, president, Noida extension flat owner’s association (NEFOWA).

Go online

The rules have laid down that the regulatory authority will ensure project information is available on its website and that the promoter will upload updates of the projects on the webpage within seven days from the expiry of each quarter.

“The buyers had to toil hard and dig out each and every detail to their satisfaction before buying a house/flat. It was a major demand that projects should have fixed timelines for completion and the project launch should take place only after necessary approvals and NOCs. This will pave a way forward to put a curb on delays,” Kumar added.

Registration

The rules have further announced registration of real estate agents which are required to make an application for registration to the regulatory authority.

The Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act, 2016, was passed in both the Houses of Parliament in March and came into force in May. The state governments were asked to frame Rules for the Act and constitute the Real Estate Regulatory Authority (RERA), the regulatory body with which developers have to register their projects.