The Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act, 2016 is an Act of the Parliament of India which seeks to protect home-buyers as well as help boost investments in the real estate industry. The Act came into force from 1 May 2016. The key highlights of the act are:
1) Mandatory to register with Real Estate Regulatory Authority (RERA) for all commercial and residential real estate projects where the land is over 500 square metres, or eight apartments for launching a project, in order to provide greater transparency in project-marketing and execution.
2) Registration of Real estate agents who facilitate selling or purchase of properties with RERA
3) 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.
4) Upon receipt of an application by the promoter, the Regulator Authority shall within a period of 30 days, grant or reject the registration. If the Regulatory Authority fails to grant or reject the application of the promoter within the period of 30 days, then the project shall be deemed to have been registered.
5) The registration, if granted, will be valid until the period of completion of the project as committed by the promoter to the Regulatory Authority. Extension by one year only due to force majeure and on payment of fee.