Realty to take a hit as RERA comes to force from Sunday
Hyderabad: The much delayed Telangana state Real Estate Regulatory Authority (RERA) act will come into force from September 1 in the state. The Telangana RERA act covers all aspects of the real estate sector right from defining the projects to the role that should be played by real estate agents. This act is applicable to all real estate projects whose building permissions are approved on or after January 1, 2017 by the urban development authorities, town and country planning departments, municipal corporations, municipalities and nagar Panchayats in addition to the projects notified by the Telangana state Industrial and Infrastructure Corporation.
For the new constructions, the permission from RERA is a must. Anyone purchasing flats from realtors who have no permission from RERA will face problems. According to officials, after January 1, 2017 there are about 6,000 constructions that were taken up across the state. All these realtors should take permission from RERA. The agents who purchase and sell flats also should register their names with RERA. Otherwise, they cannot make any transactions in the real estate field.
Form September 1, new constructions should follow RERA rules. Any real estate developer should issue advertisements after getting permission from RERA. The developers should deposit 70 per cent of the amount collected from purchasers in an Escrow account. The prices for different categories of projects have also been fixed.
According to the act, it will be mandatory for the promoters to pay a registration fee for a sum calculated on the basis of whether the project is a group housing, mixed development (residential and commercial), commercial project and plotted development project. Accordingly the fee would be Rs 5 per square metre for projects whose land that was proposed to be developed was below 1,000 square meters and Rs 10 per square metre for projects whose development exceeded 1,000 square metres not exceeding Rs 5 lakh. In case of mixed development projects, the fee would be Rs 10 per square metre for projects below 1,000 square metres and Rs 15 per square metre for those above 1000 square metres not exceeding Rs 7 lakh.
The fee in respect of commercial projects would be Rs 20 per square metre for below 1,000 square metres and Rs 25 per square metre for those exceeding the limit subject to a maximum of Rs 10 lakh. For the plotted development projects, the fee would be Rs 5 square metre not exceeding Rs 2 lakh. Specifications were also given for the ongoing projects that did not receive occupation certificate by the date of commencement of the new regulations.
Accordingly the promoter should make an application for registering the project with the concerned authority and deposit 70 per cent of the amounts realised from allotters which had not been used in the construction of the project or land cost of the project in a separate account. The new rules mandate real estate agents to obtain registration by applying to the competent authority and the registration will be valid for five years and it could be reviewed by the real estate agents by applying afresh at least three months before the expiry of the existing registration.