RERA instils confidence in home buyers as 70 pct will file complaint against builder

More than two-thirds of home-buyers will file a complaint against the developer with a real estate regulator under the new law RERA for any delay in possession of their flats, according to a survey by Magicbricks. The Real Estate (Development and Regulation) Act (RERA), which came into effect from May 2017, has brought in a ray of hope and is the first choice for home buyers when it comes to fighting inordinate delays in delivery of their apartments, it said.

As of now, 22 states and six union territories have already notified RERA rules. West Bengal is the only state with its own real estate law - WBHIRA. "72 per cent home buyers would like to file a RERA complaint in case of delay in possession, while about 19 per cent would like to ask for a refund and just 10 per cent would like to wait for possession if the project gets delayed," the portal said in a statement.

RERA has instilled confidence in buyers to invest in under-construction real estate projects and improved the sentiments of the sector as well, Magicbricks said. It highlighted that the number of registration of projects and agents are picking up across states, leading to a transparent ecosystem for stakeholders.

However, there have been cases where RERA orders have not been followed by builders and authorities had to impose penalties for delay in possession. "There are still many gaps in the implementation of RERA as buyers still face many issues related to filing complaints, getting possession on time and penalties for delays. RERA regulators need to have a mechanism for timely redressal of issues so the lost confidence of consumers is restored in the sector," the statement said.

(With inputs from agencies.)