Cabinet nod to Bill on realty regulator

The Union cabinet on Tuesday approved amendments to the Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Bill, 2013, addressing the long-standing demand to bring in a regulator for the real estate sector.

The Bill was introduced in the Rajya Sabha in August 2013 and referred to the standing committee on urban development. Most of the panel’s recommendations have been incorporated in the amendments.

The Bill aims at restoring confidence of the general public in the real estate sector; by instituting transparency and accountability in real estate and housing transactions. This, in turn, will enable the sector to access capital and financial markets essential for its long term growth. The Bill will promote orderly growth through consequent efficient project execution, professionalism and standardization.

Developers, both in residential and commercial sectors, will be required to register their projects with the regulatory authorities to be set up and will have to mandatorily disclose all information regarding the promoters, project, layout plan, schedule of development works, land status and status of statutory approvals.

The present Government has made some important changes to the original legislation brought by the UPA Government. The earlier Bill had mandated that a developer put 70 per cent of the buyer’s investment into an escrow account that would be used only for the construction of that project, which has been brought down to 50 per cent.