Real estate regulation bill cleared by cabinet

The country's real estate and housing sector, which is largely unregulated and opaque, may soon get a regulator as the union cabinet approved the Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Bill 2013. The bill makes it mandatory for developers to declare their building plans, timeline and other details of a project in advertisements related to a project. The developer would also disclose this information while registering their projects with state regulatory authorities, the bill says. According to the provision in the bill, real estate regulators would be set up in each state to protect the interests of homebuyers. The bill prohibits a misleading advertisement by a developer, with representative pictures and not actual ones. Thus, home buyers, who so far do not have access to complete information, may benefit from the proposed bill. But the proposed law is opposed tooth and nail by builders as they feel that it does not address their key concerns. According to Anil Kumar Sharma, President, Confederation of Real Estate Developer’s Association of India, National Capital Region (CREDAI-NCR), the bill is neither benefiting the consumers nor other stakeholders. If this Bill would have covered other regulatory and approving authorities, it would have been much beneficial for everybody, he opined.