Moneylife: Pune: Wednesday, September 27, 2017.
The Real
Estate (Regulation and Development) Act, 2016 (RERA) in Maharashtra (MahaRERA)
was brought to ensure transparency and efficiency in realty deals, especially
in the sale of plots, apartments, buildings or real estate project and also
protect interest of consumers. However the way MahaRERA is being used by the
vested interest, I see no hope for common buyers who are not alert to its
issues, says Vijay Kumbhar.
The
Pune-based right to information (RTI) activist was speaking at Moneylife
Foundation on 'How to use RTI for Property Matters and Land Plotting Schemes”.
Since RERA does not provide all the answers, Mr Kumbhar guided people on how
they could verify land and property details themselves on government websites
that already upload key information that is easily accessible to all.
Mr Kumbhar
strongly urged people investing in property to make the effort to use tools and
information that are already available in the public domain. He pointed out how
his entire investigation into the DS Kulkarni Developers fraud and their
dubious property transactions were unearthed by using public tools, without even
having to file Right to Information (RTI) applications.
The then took
people through a detailed list of issues that could go wrong with property
purchase and offered guidance on how to obtain accurate information or avoid
pitfalls. These includes RERA registration number, survey number of the
property, demarcation, search report, non-agriculture (NA) certificate,
environment clearance certificate, costal regulation zone (CRZ), layout plan,
building plan, commencement certificate (CC), sale deed, structural audit,
completion certificate, occupancy certificate (OC), property tax and conveyance
deed.
According to
Mr Kumbhar, since most of the information related with property matters is
available on government websites, there may not be a need to file RTI. He says,
"One can visit the Mahabhulekh portal that is the website of Maharashtra
Land Records and provides 7/12 utara (extract) online
(https://mahabhulekh.maharashtra.gov.in/). This helps you to check the 7/12
extract of all land properties across Maharashtra. Similarly, one can check
details of registration on the website of Department of Registration &
Stamps (https://esearchigr.maharashtra.gov.in/testingesearch/Login.aspx). Here
you need to register once to check data related with registration of a
property. However, for original information and certified copy, you need to
visit the concerned office of the Sub-Registrar in your area."
He also
shared an incident where one young IT engineer working abroad was sold plot of
land by showing pictures on a website. "If the promoter claims that he
owns 100s of acres of agriculture land, then beware. There is a ceiling in
Maharashtra for owning agriculture land for individuals. Also as per the law,
you cannot buy agricultural land, if you are not a farmer. Promoters often use
the word, 'proposed non-agricultural (NA) land'. This is misleading. There is no
concept of proposed NA. Either the land is agricultural or non-agricultural.
With this proposed NA scheme, there is no guarantee that the land will become
NA. In addition, it may take 10 or 20 or even more years before the
agricultural land can be converted to NA. Do ask the promoter exact survey
number of the property. If he is not sharing, then do not invest any money. In
short, do not fall for such marketing gimmicks and do a thorough search about
the promoters, the property or land, all official documents related with the
project, before handing over your hard earned money to the seller," Mr
Kumbhar advised.
Mr Kumbhar
also explained difference between sale deed and agreement to sale. He says,
"As the name says, a sale deed is agreement for the actual sale that has
taken place. While in the agreement to sale, actual sale may not have taken
place and both parties would just have agreed for the sale. When a dispute
about ownership arises, it is the sale deed that is termed as legal and valid
document and not the agreement of sale."
He then
guided the participants on how to check environment clearance certificate for
the realty project, how to get structural audit done with help from three-four
other buyers in the same project to check quality of materials used there, how
to understand difference between completion certificate and occupancy
certificate.
Coming back
to his criticism of issues with the MahaRERA data he says, "To protect
interest of consumers, the MahaRERA mandates promoter-builders or developers
and the Authority (RERA) itself to publish certain information like credentials
of promoter-builders and developers and their projects on the website. However,
through the latest amendment in rules, MahaRERA has given discretionary powers
to builder or developers with regard to the information that is uploaded on the
RERA portal. This is wrong and not in the interest of buyers.”
Mr Kumbhar’s
talk was attended by several well-known activists and realty experts. Among
them was Pankaj Kapoor, Founder and Managing Director of Liases Foras Real
Estate Rating & Research Pvt Ltd. While admitting that there is a still
long way to go for RERA to be effective, Mr Kapoor, in response to a query,
said that MahaRERA was a big step forward in terms of information available and
buyers are at least becoming aware of several things in property market. He
says, “With RERA, promoters and developers are mandated to upload all details
of the project, which were not shared with buyers earlier. The information uploaded
on RERA website by promoters and developers may not be 100% accurate or true.
But at least this is good beginning and I feel over the next few years, as
buyers demand more information, the promoters and developers will come forward
and share all details in public domain.”
Mr Kapoor
also believes that things will begin to settle down as these mistakes are
pointed out by consumers and MahaRERA initiates corrective action.
Citing the
example of parking in a building, Mr Kumbhar pointed out differences between
MahaRERA and relevant judgement of the Supreme Court. "The apex court says
parking cannot be sold in a housing society by the builder. However, the RERA
says parking charges should be shown separately in the cost. This is causing
confusion in the buyer's mind. The ruling by the SC is considered as law of the
land and thus RERA needs to provide clarification in this matter," he
added.
The
discussion ended with an update on Mr Kumbhar’s investigation in the DS
Kulkarni Developers issue, which is making waves in Pune. He said the size of
the scam is likely to be around Rs6,000 crore and urged people to file a first
information report (FIR) under the Maharashtra Protection of Investors and
Depositors Act (MPID). He pointed out that MPID Act is the only statute that
has the power to impound assets of relatives of the promoters who are the
beneficiaries of money siphoned from the companies.
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