Real Estate Regulation Act, 2016
The Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Bill, 2016 was introduced by Dr. Girija Vyas, Minister of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation in 2013. The Union Cabinet of India approved 20 major amendments to the Bill upon Rajya Sabha’s recommendations, in 2015. It then finally got approved by the Rajya Sabha and the Lok Sabha on 10th and 15th March, 2016, respectively and finally became an Act in May, 2016. What is It? RERA aims to create a regulatory body for the real estate sector. The main aim of the Act is to protect the interest or buyers and promote timely delivery of properties or projects. In order to achieve this, registration of the projects covering either more than 500 sq. ft. land or involving at least eight apartments has been made compulsory. The builder or “promoter” will need to furnish the details of the project online and this information would be available to the public. Earlier, builders used to include extra spaces in the carpet area and charged buyers 20-30