Register or pay heavy fines: RERA to real estate developers

MANGALURU: According to Real Estate Regulatory Authority (RERA) rules, it is mandatory for real estate developers to register their agencies and projects with RERA. Non-adherence will attract heavy penalty, said Karnataka RERA Secretary Vinoth Priya.

She was addressing real estate developers and government officials from Urban Development Authority and Town Planning Offices during a workshop organised by Karnataka RERA and CommonFloor, at the DC's office in Mangaluru on Friday.

Priya said that registration is mandatory in Karnataka, as per section (3) of the RERAAct.

Pointing out that some developers have been lackadaisical in registering their projects, Vinoth Priya said that only 100 projects in Mangaluru have registered with RERA, Karnataka.

All the ongoing and new projects need to be registered with RERA. The developers are given deadlines for the completion of the works. In future, the builders will be rated on their performance. This adds to their credibility.

She said it was also necessary for the developers to upload legible and clear project plans, to obtain immediate approval from RERA. Most of the uploaded documents are not of good quality, she noted.

"Related land records and the project plans are displayed on the web portal of RERA, so that the buyers can look into them, before choosing a real estate developer," Priya added

She stressed that the RERA has been established to ensure transparency in real estate operations and business and to create a win-win situation for developers and buyers.

RERA Legal advisor K Palakshappa said that when the developer submits an application for registration, he will be asked about his last five projects. This information too will be displayed in the RERA website for the buyer to see.

The quarterly progress in both physical and financial terms should also be uploaded on RERA by the developers.

Palakshappa continued saying, ongoing projects should be registered before 90 days. On failing to register with the authority before the speculated time, a complaint can be lodged against the developers as per section 59(1) of the RERA Act. Buyers can also register complaints against the developers. In the region, 202 complaints are registered and out of these, 92 projects are not registered.

Any objections against the RERArules could be addressed to the Appellant Authority and later to the High Court.

"Every real estate agent too, should be registered with RERA. He is supposed to share only the genuine information about the project, developer and the facilities provided. As per the RERA rules, non-registered agents are not authorised to display advertisements or carry out any communication with the buyers," he said.

Heavy fines for defaulters

RERA Legal adviser K Palakshappa said that 10% of the penalty will be levied on the developer, if the registration is not completed within the deadline. This year, the first deadline for registration was on July 31. Later, it was extended thrice in August, September and October.

Those who have registered after 30, 60 and 90 days of the notification will have to pay 100 %, 200% and 300% of penalty respectively. The registrations done beyond this period, will attract a penalty of 10% of the project cost.

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Rs 300 crore target

Karnataka RERA Assistant Executive Engineer K G Sathyanarayana said that the target set for the state towards the collection of stamp duty revenue is Rs 9100 crore.

Among the 34 urban development authorities in the state, Mangaluru stands second in the collection of stamp duty revenue after Bengaluru which has registered 75% of achievement. The target set for Mangaluru is Rs 300 crore for the year 2016-17, he said.

DH News Service.