A year on, RERA proves to be promising

A year since it was notified in terms of all its provisions, the Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act, 2016 (RERA) has brought in transparency and accountability to real estate and enhanced home buyer confidence. If we go back to last year, when it was notified, the prominent aspects were that it promised consumers protection and fairness in the way property is bought and sold in the real estate sector. The need for RERA stems from persistent complains from home buyers over the years, that real estate transactions were biased and mainly in the favour of the real estate developers. RERA, largely, endeavoured to create a more equitable environment and bring about the fairness of transaction as regards sellers and buyers of properties, particularly in the primary market. In that sense, RERA was implemented with the aim to make real estate purchase easier, by infusing improved accountability and transparency. Under RERA the Indian real estate sector has its first regulator. RERA has made it obligatory for states and union territories to structure their own regulator and outline the rules that will administer the operation of the regulator within their jurisdiction. Commenting on the first anniversary of RERA being notified, Dr Niranjan Hiranandani, President, NAREDCO, said “Undoubtedly, RERA is a big step forward for Indian real estate, but it will take some more time for all the states to comply with the norms and create the set-up for its impact, which will bring in consumers protection, transparency and fairness in the real estate sector.” In terms of actual functioning, RERA has been among the biggest achievement in a few states – with a lot of projects registered, the authority is carrying out its effort in an efficient way, and hence the prospects are ‘good’. “The first year is typically for working out problems that need to be tweaked or altered – and this is exactly what has happened over the past one year," he added. For the home buyer, RERA has brought in lucidity and accountability on part of real estate developers, which has boosted confidence and assurance on part of prospective buyers. “And yet, I would not go so far as to already coin it as an accomplishment – it is an achievement that is in the creation, something that is work in progress. We need to see how things work out in the coming months before we can take a call on how to explain it, but at present, I would say the performance of RERA has been encouraging. A lot of work is still to be done in a few states to get the existing and new project registered,” Dr Hiranandani concluded.