Despite Rera, West Bengal notifies its own real estate law

HIGHLIGHTS

• There are two major dilutions of RERA in the new law notified by the Mamata Banerjee government
• The first is on unforeseen circumstances that prevent a builder from fulfilling his contract
• The second is on garages. While RERA requires a roof and walls on three sides, HIRA has removed the clause altogether

West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee

NEW DELHI/ KOLKATA: The Centre’s target to bring all new and ongoing real estate projects under Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act (RERA) has received a setback as West Bengal government has notified its own law for the sector in the state. This surprised many considering the state had notified the draft rules last year as per the power given to the respective state governments under the Central law.

“It was a surprise for us why the state government preferred new legislation of its own — West Bengal Housing Industry Regulation Act (WBHIRA) — other than to dilute the RERA provisions to favour developers. All other states 

have adopted RERA, which was implemented after several scrutinies of parliamentary committees and was even upheld by the Bombay High Court,” said Abhay Upadhyay of Forum For People’s Collective Efforts (FPCE), the citizens group that mobilised flat buyers for passage of the law.

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Housing ministry sources said West Bengal’s law has not yet got the presidential assent, which is essential since there is already a central law to deal with similar issues. Section 254 of the Constitution specifies that if any provision of a law made by state legislature is repugnant to any provision of a law made by Parliament then the law made by Parliament shall prevail.

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the builders in WB might have offered hefty sum of money to Mamta Begum for next years election fund.sankepally rajainder reddy

There are two major dilutions of RERA in the new law notified by the Mamata Banerjee government. The first is on unforeseen circumstances that prevent a builder from fulfilling his contract. RERA says the circumstances could be war, flood, drought, fire, cyclone, earthquake or any other calamity caused by nature where HIRA makes an addition to the clause “...or any other circumstances as may be prescribed.”

The second deviation is on garages. While RERA requires a roof and walls on three sides, HIRA has removed the clause altogether and defined garage as any parking space sanctioned by the government authority.

 

 

Source - ET Realty

Over 1,65,000 benefit under CLSS vertical of PMAY-Urban in three years

NEW DELHI: Over 1, 65, 000 people in urban areas have benefitted from the Credit Linked Subsidy Scheme (CLSS) during 2015-18, according to the data made available by the government.

During these three years over 45 lakh dwelling units have been approved for construction. About 27 lakh houses are in various stages of completion with over 8 lakh houses having been already completed during the period.

For the financial year 2018-19, the central government has provided Rs 31,505 crore for PMAY with a provision for additional funding under Extra Budgetary Resources (EBR).

While the budget for the current year had allocated Rs 1,900 crore for the CLSS vertical, there is flexibility provided to draw more funds based on requirement from the earmarked Rs 25,000 crore under EBR.

A mechanism has been devised to optimally utilise the funds under the mission, said the government in a media release.

According to the government, the issue of funding has been sufficiently addressed and there is no shortage of funding under PMAY (Urban) across all the verticals.


Source- ET Realty

Gunit Chadha gets NHB's approval for housing finance business

 

Gunit Chadha, the former chief executive of Deutsche Bank's Asia-Pacific operations, has received National Housing Bank's approval for his proposed housing finance venture.
 
APAC Housing Finance, as part of APAC Financial Services, will be headed by Harpreet Singh, who had experience in setting up housing finance business in India.
NHB's website says that the license to APAC Housing is not valid for acceptance of public deposit.

APAC Financial Services has already secured non-banking finance company license from Reserve Bank of India.
 
Chadha, who is returning to India after half-a-decade, has formed a team of bankers to build a loans business is likely to focus on affordable housing, small businesses, microfinance and consumer lending.

Source - ET Realty 

IT’S THE BEST TIME TO INVEST IN INDIAN REALTY: HARVINDER SIKKA

Till a year back, the real estate sector of India had been much in limelight due to the floating negative sentiments caused by delay in possession of projects, coupled with sky rocketing prices especially in Tier 1 regions of the country. These reasons had dented the housing demand and is causing drastic fall in the interest of potential customers along with heavy inventory pile up for the developers. Being a case of land, big depreciation is pretty much off the cards and hence, can prices come down becomes the question. But in order to keep the market and sentiments stable, developers needed to provide some extra cushion.

It is crucial to understand that real estate sector is an end user to almost 35 other industries and sectors, and if this sector is drowning, then it is not fruitful for the economy in general. RBI has played its part seemingly well over the last couple of years by bringing down the key rates. Almost half of the rate cut benefit has been passed on by the banks. It was time now that developers also chip in to help this market get back on track.

My sense is that there is a little bit of everything that needs to happen for the revival in the real estate sector. There was an issue of certainly how they see the housing market and how they see prices. There had to be an adjustment so that more people want to go and buy which was witnessed and markets have settled to the rock bottom prices. Real estate is an asset which is somewhere bound to appreciate with time. But the kind of appreciation that most Tier 1 regions across the country has witnessed, it had taken the buyers away from the market, especially investors, who were a prominent sight when the property prices were low. Housing demand is driven most by end users who again were looking at property prices which have settled down to an all-time low and there are no chances of prices going down further and it’s the best time to invest in the sector.

Big blow for builders as RERA says don't charge homebuyers for facilities not yet delivered

MahaRERA recently ordered a developer to not demand charges for such facilities that have been mentioned in the agreement but not yet provided to the homebuyer. Image source: Reuters

The Maharashtra Real Estate Regulatory Authority (MahaRERA) recently ordered a developer to not demand charges for such facilities that have been mentioned in the agreement but not yet provided to the homebuyer.

Sunil Jajoo had booked a house in Runwal Elina apartments at Andheri and had registered the agreement for sale further executing it in September 2015. Jajoo, in his complaint, stated that the date of possession on the agreement was December 2016 but the developer has failed to hand over the apartment within the stipulated time frame. He also stated that the developer has been demanding charges for club house facility which has not been delivered as on date. He prayed that the developer be directed to pay him interest for the delay as per the provisions of RERA.

During the hearing, the developer’s advocate said the project’s construction could not be completed because of reasons which were beyond the developer’s control and that reasonable extension of time is stipulated for in the agreement. The authority concluded the matter ex-parte.

Gautam Chaterjee, Chairperson, MahaRERA, while disposing the matter, said, “In view of the facts, the developer is directed that they shall not demand charged for the facilities/amenities like club house that are part of the agreement for sale but are not being provided at the time of handing over possession and until such time, the said facilities are provided for.”

Source- Zee Business

Galaxy Group to revive Amrapali’s projects, to bring relief to over 28000 Homebuyers

Noida: Leading NCR realty major Galaxy Group today, received a go ahead from the Supreme Court to construct the 8 stalled projects by Amrapali Group. Galaxy Group will be making an investment of approx. Rs. 2500 crore, in the span of next 4 years, to revive and construct eight pending residential projects which will bring relief to over 28000 customers who have invested in these projects. The development of these projects would be carried out by Galaxy Dream Home Developers Pvt Ltd, which will soon be rebranded as ‘Sawasdee Group’.

The markets of Noida and Greater Noida which are witnessing huge number of deliveries in the recent months will see more deliveries through this move and we can expect more and more customers receiving the rightful ownership of their homes. This verdict comes in the wake of the government’s push and the interest showed by the private players.

Out of the 8 projects, five projects are from Noida; namely, Sapphire (Phase I & II) located in Sector 45, Heartbeat City in sector 107, Eden Park in Sector 50, Zodiac in Sector 120, Platinum in Sector 119. The remaining three projects are from the Greater Noida West region; Leisure Valley, Leisure Park and Dream Valley, which will be duly completed by them and handed over to the rightful buyers. With this verdict, real estate market of Noida is sure to see an upward trend in the property demand, as completion and possession were the most highlighted topics in the region for the past few years.

Pradeep Kumar Agrawalla, chairman, Galaxy Group of Companies said, “We are grateful that the Honourable Supreme Court has passed this verdict which will bring along trust and credibility in the real estate market of Noida. Real estate is a very sentiment driven sector and the trust factor plays a big role in its sustainability throughout. With this move, we hope that the sector, which is already on its revival path through the reforms of RERA and GST, will improve further and we will witness customers returning back in large numbers.”

World Trade Center to invest Rs 21 billion in its Greater Noida project

World Trade Center (WTC), part of the New York-based chain of global trade and business hubs, will invest almost Rs 21 billion in its Greater Noida project.

The project spanning almost 50 acres is arguably the largest WTC property in the world. So far, the company has already invested close to Rs 7 billion and the remaining Rs 14 billion purse would be invested in the coming 2-3 years, WTC advisor P K Alok told Business Standard here today. This investment excludes the land cost of the project.

During the UP Investors Summit 2018, the Yogi Adityanath government had signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with WTC for the development of Mobile Open Exchange Zone (MOX) in Greater Noida, which is touted to act as a catalyst to bring the advantage of growth in the mobile and allied sectors to Uttar Pradesh.

“We have the mandate to develop about 4.2 million square feet of realty for mobile phone and other technology companies at WTC Noida, of which 2.1 million sq ft of commercial space is ready,” he informed.

Chinese mobile handset company Vivo has already been rented out two towers comprising 800,000 sq ft of commercial space. Besides, WTC Noida is holding talks with other companies mobile phone companies based out of China, South Korea, Taiwan and Japan to set up shop at the upcoming hub.

“Within the next 6 months, 2-3 mobile phone companies would be operating out of our facilities,” he said adding the whole project would be completed by 2021.

Individual WTC hubs are licensed for development and operation by the WTC Association, USA. In Greater Noida, the real estate development of the integrated project comprising high rise towers is being done by commercial real estate firm Viridian Red.

Under the MoU with WTC Noida, the state government would facilitate to obtain necessary registrations, approvals, clearances etc as per the existing rules and regulations, while also supporting to avail of incentives under various central and state governments schemes.

A report by global consultancy company MOTT MacDonald had claimed by 2020, India would be the 2nd largest smartphone market in the world with the mobile phone ecosystem contributing 8.2% to the country’s economy. The report also claimed that Noida/Greater Noida region had the potential to attract over Rs 100 billion of investment in near future and generate several hundred thousands of jobs.

WTC Association represents a global network of active locations in 318 cities across 88 countries that seek to create a competitive advantage for businesses conducting international trade.

WTC Noida comprises mix use commercial complex with office spaces, hotels, service apartments, recreational and green spaces. Alok said WTC Noida had outperformed other commercial ventures in the National Capital Region (NCR) and exhibited the ability to surge ahead within the stipulated timeframe.

Source- Business Standard