Ref. No: NEFOWA/2014/074 30.06.2014 To The Prime Minister Prime Minister Office, New Delhi. To Shri M Venkaiah Naidu, Minister of Urban Development, New Delhi. Subject: Need of passing of The Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Bill-2011 immediately and suggestions of improvement. Hon’ble Sir, With reference to the captioned subject, we would like to bring to your notice that the flat buyers of Greater Noida, Noida and other regions of NCR have been cheated at the hands of the powerful builder’s lobby and have been living in the constant agony in absence of any real estate regulation. Please note that the possession of most of the projects in the area are running very late and the pace of the construction is extremely slow which has created suspicion among the buyers whether the builders has got all types of approvals from different authorities or not. Even Noida and Greater Noida authorities are not replying to our RTI. The recent verdicts of NGT on Okhla Bird Sanctuary (Noida), Allahabad High Court verdict on demolition of Emarald Court, Supertech (Noida) and Campacola society (Mumbai) case have created panic among the flat buyers. Despite enactment of the UP Apartment Act – 2010 for the last three years, none of the builders are following the same. Greater Noida and Noida Authorities are a well of corruption that have sheltered the builders and have not taken a single step for the implementation of this act. Builders are changing their layout plan without taking the consent of the buyers, applying for extra FAR and raising building heights and extra towers on already sold projects which show the complete violation of the norms written in the U.P. Apartment Act-2010. Noida and Greater Noida West Projects are not the sole examples which attract the concerns of the buyers of dream houses but there are many more projects across the country which envisages the same concerns of the buyers. The woes of the buyers are aggravated due to the well known fact that there is no regulatory authority / law in this regard amidst so many prevailing State Legislations. The situation is compelling all of us to establish a Regulatory Authority for regulation and planned development in the real estate sector and to ensure sale of immovable properties in an efficient and transparent manner protecting the interests of consumers in the real estate sector. It is really a sigh of relief that the much sought Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Bill stands drafted, waiting to be passed in the Parliament. It is, therefore, strongly requested that this Bill may please be tabled before the Parliament for getting it passed now, avoiding any further delay with some suggestions for improvement as under:- 1. NEFOWA suggests that the prospectus of a project must contain the names of promoters and the legal cases pending to the particular Real Estate firm, if any. 2. NEFOWA is concerned with the interests of innocent buyers who are not part of any lobby but victims of their own fortune to say the least. Such suggestions include transparency in the working of the Authority, responsibilities of Govt. officials, and above all, the accountability of the Authority towards imparting justice to the victimized buyers. We are concerned with the interests of innocent buyers in case of dispute with regard to the land acquisition involving Govt. and land owners which in turn lands the innocent buyers in trouble. 3. NEFOWA expresses its concern and demands that the interests of buyers need to be looked after and protected primarily as he is the last in leg of the subject matter of the area of function of the Authority. A standard format of the Builder-Buyer Agreement should be standardized by the Regulatory Authority to ensure removal of all one sided clauses to safeguard the interests of buyers. 4. The role of state govt. should also be made accountable in so far as registration of plots are concerned. It is often seen that a number of advertisements are floated in nationalized newspapers, TV and other mediums by the developers with promises of pakki registry from the concerned office of sub registrar (a state govt. authority). However, once all the plots are sold to the middle-class buyers who also pay the hefty registration charges to the state govt., the land owning agency comes into picture all of a sudden and demolishes the structures/houses made on such plots. The state govt. has to play a vital role to safeguard the interests of the buyers by keeping a check on such misleading advertisements in nationalized newspapers, TV etc. at the very outset of the launch of such illegal colonies. NEFOWA demands that once authority takes the money in the name of Registry (Stamps), then it should be his responsibility to check the Legal rights of the land. If the land is not legal, then Authority should refuse to register it. 5. It is most often seen that the buyers are lured to go for the projects by the developers/builders through ever chasing advertisements of the project in Newspapers, SMSs, Phone calls and other mediums on daily basis. Meaning thereby, that the before sale service is very good without any thought about the sales service after booking. NEFOWA demands that builders should fix a Builder-Buyer meeting every three months for under construction projects and ensure minimum 50% grievances resolved through mutual understanding of both the parties. 6. Another area of concern is the issue of resale of flat. If one buyer wants to resale his booking before the completion of the project due to unavoidable circumstances, most of the builders are not allowing resale of flats. Some builders are charging Rs.300/-to 400/- psf from such buyer for transferring name. NEFOWA demands that the Regulatory Authority should fix a uniform transfer charge on all such bookings/completed projects, so that builder’s monopoly can be checked. 7. NEFOWA demands that this bill should be applicable to all the projects in which possession is yet to be given. 8. NEFOWA attracts the provisions envisaged in Chapter IV (The Real Estate Regulatory Authority) and strongly demands that the Authority should necessarily comprise the 50 % representatives of buyers to raise their issues. 9. NEFOWA expresses its concern over the fact that along with the proposed Bill, various State laws related with real estate will co-exist. However, if there is too much inconsistency in the State legislation, they will have to amend their laws. There is no plan to include any provision of giving direction to the States under the Bill. 10. Last but not the least, NEFOWA demands instant step ahead for passing the draft Bill in the upcoming session of Parliament itself, avoiding any further delay, for this bill is going to be one strong step ahead in implementing the noble motive of it. NEFOWA is looking forward to see the Bill grow into an Act to institute a regulatory oversight mechanism for facilitating disclosure, fair practice and accountability norms in the real estate sector and providing adjudication machinery for speedy resolutions of issues as well. Thanking you, Shweta Bharti General Secretary NEFOWA (Noida Extension Flat Owners Welfare Association)
Posted on: Thu, 03 Jul 2014 12:22:11 +0000