‘One project, one registration’: MahaRERA brings in new rule to protect interests of home buyers against builders

The Maharashtra Real Estate Regulatory Authority has asked promoters applying for fresh registration of a housing project to submit a declaration-cum-undertaking to prevent cases of fraud involving home buyers.

In its recent order, MahaRERA has said that the declaration-cum-undertaking application should be written in a prescribed format on a letter head stating that neither the site of the proposed real estate project nor any part of it shall be registered in the number is. There are instances where registration has been done multiple times for the same project.

The order is applicable for single and multi-phase residential projects on large plots.

The prescribed format will include details like CS number, CTS number, final plot number, survey number, HISA number, GAT number and Khasra number. If any incorrect information is found to have been submitted, MahaRERA will initiate appropriate action against such promoter.

According to MahaRERA, some promoters are applying for additional registration numbers without informing the reason to the authority. It has been observed that at some places the land owner and the promoter are separate and work independently while at other places the land owner has a contract with more than one promoter. This is creating challenges and confusion in the completion of the project.

For example, buildings face difficulties in obtaining Occupancy Certificate (OC), which affects home buyers in securing water supply and other basic civic amenities. To prevent such issues, MahaRERA has introduced a new policy of “One Standalone Project: One MahaRERA Number”.

“Maharera is trying its best to ensure that there is no possibility under which the developer gets an opportunity to delay the project. “’One Standalone Project: One MahaRERA Number’ is another important policy towards protecting the interests of all stakeholders including home buyers. The latest decision will help MahaRERA to monitor all projects more effectively while strictly enforcing regulatory provisions,” said Ajoy Mehta, Chairman, MahaRERA.

In case of project on larger plot of land, separate registration numbers can be obtained for the project or phases. However, any reservation on a plot declared by the Government or local planning authority cannot be changed without the formalities prescribed by the concerned authorities. This also includes the legal consent of the allottees. These legal measures will help in avoiding disputes over facilities like recreation, playground, parking, internal roads, swimming pool, club house and gymnasium. All these should be specified clearly and unambiguously for each project phase in each application submitted for new MahaRERA registration number.