The Maharashtra Real Estate Regulatory Authority (MahaRERA) has cracked down on errant real estate developers with stalled or lapsed projects by freezing the bank accounts of over 1,950 such ventures. The decisive move aims to enforce accountability among developers and protect the interests of homebuyers who have been affected by delayed or incomplete projects. By targeting projects that failed to meet their commitments or regulatory requirements, MahaRERA is seeking to ensure compliance with the real estate regulations and provide a robust mechanism for resolving long-pending issues in the sector. The housing regulator had issued show cause notices to the developers of the projects that had failed to keep MahaRERA updated about their project’s status, despite the project completion deadline getting lapsed. These developers were provided with a 30-day window to update their project’s information. “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 is required to update the project’s 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, MahaRERA. According to him, In January 2023, a Compliance Cell review revealed only 3 of 748 projects had updated information. After follow-ups, responses to show-cause notices for lapsed projects show significant improvement in compliance and information flow. Of the 10,773 lapsed housing projects that were served with show cause notices, 5,324 have replied with the desired response. Of these, 3,517 projects have submitted their Occupancy Certificates (OC) and 524 have applied for the project’s deadline to be extended. In addition to this, the responses of 1,283 projects are currently under scrutiny. It has taken the action to keep registration of 1,950 projects with MahaRERA in abeyance and in these projects, transaction related restrictions have been put into place. In case of the balance 3,499 housing projects, a process has been initiated to take similar action against them, as they have not responded. “MahaRERA is aware that the number of projects that have not responded is significant and we have initiated action against such projects to protect homebuyer’s interests,” Saunik added. As per regulations, while registering with MahaRERA, developers need to specify the proposed project completion date. Once completed, they are expected to submit Form 4 with the OC or apply for an extension if delayed. Developers facing challenges are required to apply for de-registration. Promoters must also submit quarterly and annual progress reports on MahaRERA's website within specified timelines, along with necessary supporting documents. These measures are required to be taken along with the necessary supporting documents. MahaRERA has decided to take stringent action against non-compliant projects, by cancelling or suspending registrations, imposing penalties, and even instructing Joint District Registrars to halt property registrations for projects failing to comply with the regulations.