State gets its housing law, but it lacks teeth

The long-pending housing legislation, the Maharashtra Housing (Regulation and Deve-lopment) Act, 2012, that sets up an independent housing regulatory authority to hear your complaints against developers, was finally introduced in the state assembly on Wednesday.

The long-pending housing legislation, the Maharashtra Housing (Regulation and Deve-lopment) Act, 2012, that sets up an independent housing regulatory authority to hear your complaints against developers, was finally introduced in the state assembly on Wednesday.

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However, the proposed legislation may fall way short of its aim to give harassed buyers much-needed recourse against unscrupulous developers.

The proposed law will usher in a degree of transparency in realty deals, as it will now be mandatory for developers to register all details of their projects on the website of the regulatory authority.

But the provision for criminal proceedings against errant developers has been dropped, which means the authority does not have the power to send unscrupulous developers to jail.

Refuting that the bill was weak, Sachin Ahir, minister of state for housing, said: “If the authority is convinced that a builder has cheated consumers, it can file an FIR.”