RERA Act came into force w.e.f. 1st May 2016. All the state governments were told to notify rules for the functioning of regulator and set up the regulator website by 1st May 2017. As it stands now, 22 states and 6 UTs have notified their RERA guidelines, 19 of which have active websites.
Having a functional website was a crucial aspect of the Act. It is supposed provide homebuyers with means to file complaints online, information of under construction projects, registered agents, among other things. Many states have launched online portals but they are yet to be fully functional.
Maharashtra Real Estate Regulatory Authority (MahaRera) is the clear leader among similar bodies in other states with the registration of 20,718 projects and 19,699 real estate agents. But not all are fortunate like Maharashtra residents. Most of the eastern states are yet to get a functional RERA office.
Overall, real estate industry has seen consolidation and better conduct after implementation of RERA. The states where RERA is fully operational, Authorities carry out due diligence before registering projects. Liases Foras, a Mumbai based real estate rating and research firm in their report states that after implementation of RERA, the average time taken to complete construction work up to the first floor after the launch of a project has come down to six months from 21 months.
There are several instances of developers being taken to task by authorities and even paid penalty to the aggrieved home buyers. Still, assuming that all is good in the real estate sector and that it has reformed would be a premature statement. What we need is fast tracking of its implementation pan-India.
To assess the current state of RERA implementation across India, we can divide States into two groups, one that has started with registration of Agents and Projects, and the other that is yet to launch website and establish office. (See Table 1. & Table 2.)
