Streamlining UP’s real estate sector

The Authority also took a conscious decision to work six days a week keeping in view the high volume of consumer grievances and the huge responsibilities cast upon it. Some of the instances of how the authority has successfully met these demands are:

• Under the close monitoring of the Authority, 570 registered projects have been completed, 157 projects granted short duration extension, 200 projects audited, show-cause notices issued for de-registration of 27 projects, 67 projects de-registered and steps initiated to complete such projects under section 8 of RERA. This move will help discipline errant promoters and to ensure the completion projects.

• The Authority has established a project management division in its NCR office for close supervision of projects and positive intervention in case of stressed projects. It has prepared panels of auditors, third party construction consultants, undertaken the audit and verification of the accounts of 321 projects. Once the grading framework becomes operational, it will help consumers make judicious choices and lead to healthy inter-sector competition .

• Efforts are being made to make all the projects RERA compliant. Recently the Authority imposed penalties against the promoters of 1,088 projects for not updating quarterly progress reports on the website. The promoters have started realising the advantages of RERA compliances. This will finally lead to financial discipline, accountability and transparency in the sector. The salutary impact is already there as brought out in a study by Magicbricks wherein it was found that now over 60% of prospective home-buyers want to buy a house in a project which is registered with RERA.

• Uttar Pradesh has the highest volume of complaints by home-buyers. The Authority was constituted at a much later date in the state, still it has decided more than two times the complaints decided by any other state of the country. While Uttar Pradesh decided 15,485 complaints, other states lagged far behind. Maharashtra decided only 6,834 complaints, Madhya Pradesh 2,839, Karnataka 1,908, Haryana 3,161, while the lowest number of complaints were decided in Gujarat (1,455).

Uttar Pradesh was the first state to start the execution of its orders through recovery certificates. During the short period of just over a year, an amount of Rs 53.42 crore has been realised against 275 recovery certificates. The pace of recovery is picking up.

The Authority has established online facility for filing the request for execution of RERA orders and also an online module for tracking compliance of its orders ranging from possession to refund. As per the compliance status gathered from different tracking mediums, there has been compliance in about 50% cases so far. It’s the RERA effect that now promoters are trying to enter into settlement with the homebuyers both during the hearing of the case and after the orders.

• The Authority has also institutionalised the amicable settlement of disputes between home-buyers and promoters through two conciliation fora established at its Lucknow and NCR offices. So far, over 2,000 home-buyers have sought relief through this forum.

UPRERA earned the honour of organising the First National RERA Conclave at Lucknow on November 4, 2019.

The conclave saw all stakeholders including the government of India, state government, RERAs and appellate tribunals of states, banks and other financial institutions, industry associations, homebuyers and their associations, promoters and professionals congregate. The conclave was inaugurated by the chief minister and was immensely successful. With RERA, and with UPRERA the scenario is changing and changing for the better.