To protect homebuyers' interests, the Maharashtra Real Estate Regulatory Authority (MahaRERA) has suspended the registration of 1,950 real estate projects across the state after their developers failed to respond to notices regarding status updates. In the coming days, more than 3,499 lapsed real estate projects are expected to face similar action, the MahaRERA said in a statement on January 9.
MahaRERA has also frozen these developers' bank accounts, it said.
The action follows MahaRERA's December 2024 show-cause notices for non-compliance to around 10,771 projects, most of which are in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region.
MahaRERA gave developers of the projects 30 days to comply with the statutory obligation of mandatory disclosure of project details and information on its website.
The compliance concerns the project registration lapse, which occurred due to the real estate developers' non-submission of Form 4, which signifies project completion.
Real estate developers must submit an Occupation Certificate (OC) with Form 4 upon project completion or seek an extension. The application must be supported by the requisite documents. However, over 10,773 projects were declared to be lapsed, as they had not complied with the norm.
Also Read: MahaRERA issues show cause notices to around 11,000 lapsed housing projects, MMR tops the list.
The compliance rate of real estate developers
{{/usCountry}}Also Read: MahaRERA issues show cause notices to around 11,000 lapsed housing projects, MMR tops the list.
The compliance rate of real estate developers
{{/usCountry}}According to MahaRERA, out of the 10,773 projects that were issued notices in December 2024, developers of 5,324 housing projects have replied to the show-cause notices. Of these, 3,517 projects have submitted their Occupancy Certificates (OC), and 524 have applied for the project's deadline to be extended.
"Currently, the response of 1,283 projects is under scrutiny, and action has been initiated to keep in abeyance 1,950 projects' registration with MahaRERA. Their bank accounts have been frozen. In these projects, transaction-related restrictions have been put into place," MahaRERA said.
“A process has been initiated to take similar action against the remaining 3,499 housing projects, as they have not responded,” it said.
According to a list shared by MahaRERA, the projects whose registration has been temporarily suspended are from across Maharashtra. While most of the projects are from the Mumbai Metropolitan Region, other cities include Pune, Nagpur, Nashik, and others.
"The primary objective of the Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act, 2016 is to ensure transparency, accountability and financial discipline in the real estate sector. This is to protect the homebuyers' interests. For this purpose, every housing project must update its status on MahaRERA's website periodically – quarterly and annually. This keeps the homebuyers to stay informed about the project. However, in practice, it has been happening to a limited extent," said Manoj Saunik, chairman of MahaRERA.
"On compliance cell's review of registered projects in January 2023, it was discovered that only three out of 748 projects had updated the required information. After a series of follow-ups, there has been a significant improvement in the flow of information. This is evident from the responses to the show cause notices of lapsed projects. MahaRERA is aware that the number of projects that have not responded is significant, and we have initiated action against such projects to protect homebuyers' interests," Saunik added.