Homebuyer Rights under RERA

To many home buyers and investors, the first question that comes to mind is what is RERA? To deconstruct the act it is mandated to understand all its elements and what is directed for. RERA or also known as the Real Estate Regulatory Authority is directed for two reasons to protect home purchasers and also boost the real estate investments market. Protected by the Real Estate Regulation and Development Act, which came into force in 2016. On 1 May 2016, the so-called RERA Act came into full force encompassing all the rights the buyers and investors will enjoy.

The modus operandi of the RERA is multilayered; some of the fundamentals of the act are as follows. To defend the interest of the buyers and promote their responsibility, and transparency in every transaction avoiding any possibility of fraud, to promote Pan-India standardization, to ensure the system of right information is followed by the buyers and the sellers, to lay the list of important responsibilities to both the developers and the investors, to ensure the reliability of the real estate sector resulting in more new investors.

For many years investors and buyers have lived under the cloud that builders and owners will always gain the upper hand. Now that RERA is in force there will be a regulated model code guided towards more standard and equitable. Transparency will be more important and accessible and any purchase and sale will be more simple, easier, and more accountable. The act will protect any parties involved. It is anticipated that the RERA will serve as the first regulator for the Indian real estate market. It is mandated by this Act to gradually make it mandatory for all state and union territories, to conduct their own regulator and set the rules that will perform the functioning of the regulator.

Rights that are to be beneficial for the buyers:

Property Registration

Using the Act the concerned developers cannot or shall not conduct and market or transfer the projects without prior registration with the Real Estate Regulatory Authority (RERA). Also, all ongoing projects need to be registered under this act within a maximum of three months of the promulgation of the Act. The benefits here the homebuyers can enjoy is that they can request the assigned RERA registration number of the project. The concerned party can leverage a penalty of 10% of the project cost in case any registration requirements are violated.

Contract of the construction

Any buyers are required to note down the detail of the construction agreement with the developer of the real estate project they wish to invest in. The greater benefits the buyers can enjoy is that once the construction plans are set in motion all details on configuration approved by the concerned authorities and all information provided to the homebuyers laid down on the construction contract cannot longer be changed or redesigned. This assures all the process of procuring the home is performed according to the guidelines and all prior information such as structural changes, and changes to fittings, fixtures, or specifications pertaining to the homebuyer’s individual unit without the agreement of the buyer can no longer be improved, changed or reshape.

In any case, if the builders try to make any tailoring in either of the buyer's unit or any of the provided accessible amenities the buyers can right away question or ask the developers on the subject with all their rights. Without the information and agreement of a minimum of two-thirds of the home buyers, any alterations are allowed.

On the subject of the project funding

As mentioned in Section 4 of the Act, the builder is required to deposit a minimum of 70% of all the sum collected from the buyers in a specified bank account or an escrow account. The process of withdrawing from the above-mentioned accounts will be in accordance with the percentage of the project completed which has to be certified and verified by a team of experts of chartered accountant, architect, or engineer. To gain the highest benefits all home buyers should be aware of all such proceedings.

For instance the parties, in this case, the buyers should be well informed about the implications of programs namely such as interest subvention policy. This in times a developer used to sell it at times of inflated prices by informing them to pay the pre-EMI interest or EMIs on home loans.

One such project that is RERA registered and any buyers and investors can benefit largely is the project Godrej Splendour. A residential project which is not just future-enabled but also the gifts of nature with 650+ trees planted across the surrounding. It offers luxurious 1, 2, and 3 BHK premium apartments with more than 50+ amenities such as home automation features. Located at Whitefield, Bangalore it is located in the most lucrative region. The RERA number registered for this project is PRM/KA/RERA/1251/446/PR/160622/005000.