The RERA (Real Estate Regulation Authority) guidelines in Maharashtra have come up as a big reprieve for the home buyers and is expected to protect their interests by ensuring on time delivery of the projects.

Introduced in 2013, RERA guidelines finally got the approval in March 2016 across India as a central law but will be managed and watched by the state governments independently.

The recent stats reveal that 15.5 lakhs Maharashtra homes are now registered with RERA, which means over 90% ongoing and under development projects have been recorded till date. One thing important to note in RERA Guidelines is that the rules and compliances are only applicable on the new and ongoing residential and commercial projects. Typically, the projects that haven’t received a completion certificate on the date of commencement of RERA Act should comply with the stated rules.

Gautam Chatterjee, the chairman of MahaRERA mentioned in one of his recent interviews, “The developers and projects that have still not registered with the housing regulator Act will face strict action.”Under major RERA guidelines in Maharashtra, Chatterjee further added, “Though the rules are tilted towards homebuyers, we’ve received good response from builders.”

So, if you’re thinking of buying a home/flat/apartment in any region of Maharashtra state, here’s how the Act will help you make a prudent choice considering the most important aspects while buying property:

Registration 

The RERA guidelines in Maharashtra makes it compulsory for every builder to register with the housing regulatory body. The developers are asked to present the related documents and details of project including the plans, approvals and their credentials

Benefits to homebuyer: The RERA guidelines in Maharashtra will prevent homebuyers to be screwed up by any builder against the fraudulent promises they make in the beginning of the project and end up delivering a crooked home.

Disclosure

As per RERA guidelines from now on, every developer or realtor or real estate organization in Maharashtra will have to upload all the details of their project on the website, which are true to best of their interests. Only when they receive a green signal from the regulator, they are authorized to advertise their project.

Benefits to homebuyer: This will certainly help the homebuyers to make a much more informed choice as they can access in-depth information easily on the respective website.

Payments

One major apprehension buyers have before booking the property is the booking amount, which is as much as 20% of the telling price. And then, builders ask it to pay to them even before registration. RERA guidelines in Maharashtra unburden the consumers by bringing the booking amount down to value of 10%, which should only be paid after registering an agreement for sale with the customer.

Further to buyer’s delight, this agreement can only be terminated after the third-time payment failure from buyer, for which the realtor has to send a 15-day notice.

Benefits to homebuyer: Customers do not have to pay a large amount and can get sufficient time to make arrangement for funds. Certainly, homebuyers can be sure of having a legal document before making any payments.

Possession

Yet another major concern for the people investing their life savings to buy a home is the delayed possession. Until now, most realtors have been shifting the dates to a month or more, which makes it difficult for the ones who have been living on rent or the ones new to the city. To take them out of this pain, the government under RERA guidelines in Maharashtra imposes fine on realtors if they make any delays in handing over the apartment as promised in the seller agreement.

Benefits to homebuyer: This makes the developers more accountable for their business, thereby avoiding any suffering for buyers to owning their prized possessions and living in their dream home.

Quality

The RERA Act brings the best rules to action as the apartments will be warranted against any defects for five years after delivering to the respective buyers. The complaint should be acted upon within 30 days.

Benefits to homebuyer: Nothing can be more relieving for the Maharashtra people than receiving the best support and maintenance after possession, that too for five years.