In what would be called a landmark move, the Lok Sabha passed the Real Estate Bill on March 15, four days after it was passed by the Rajya Sabha, the upper house of Parliament.
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Naidu said the bill was brought in the house after consultation with several stake holders including the ministries of defence, civil aviation, environment and consumer affairs.
The Rajya Sabha will resume discussion on the Rail Budget whereas Lok Sabha on General Budget along with appropriation bills tomorrow. But the Bill on the whole will be a gamechanger and benefit both consumers and developers by triggering a muchneeded revival of the sector. What you (builders) are committing, what you are promising, fulfill that.
It will help establish state-level Real Estate Regulatory Authorities (RERAs) to regulate transactions related to both residential and commercial projects and ensure their timely completion and handover. “This is the only goal of this real estate bill”, he said.
For errant promoters, provisions have been made for heavy penalties and imprisonment in certain cases. The Bill was originally introduced in the Parliament on August 14, 2013 by the Government through the Union Minister of Housing and Urban Poverty alleviation. Private people, foreign investors, will come and invest.
Naidu said the main objective of the bill is to protect consumer interest. A money bill can’t be defeated by the Rajya Sabha, so the Left parties and others are trying to do next best thing to delay it. “People will buy more properties”, the minister said. Finance minister Arun Jaitley is expected to present the government’s defence that Aadhaar has been cast as a mechanism to deliver government subsidies and this does not invalidate its credentials as a money bill.
As per the bill 70% of the amount collected will have to be maintained in a separate bank account and can only be used for the construction of the specified project only for which the amount has been collected. The norms for registration of projects have been brought down to a plot area of 500 sq m or eight apartments, against 4,000 sq m proposed in the 2013 draft Bill, and 1,000 sq m or 12 apartments suggested by the standing committee.
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It provides for a clear definition of carpet area and a system that would require the consent of two-thirds of the buyers in case there are changes in project plans.
