Real Estate Bill to be introduced in Monsoon Session: Housing Secretary

The Real Estate Regulatory Bill, which seeks to bring transparency and accountability in the realty sector, will be introduced in the Monsoon Session of Parliament, a top government official said on Saturday.

The Cabinet had approved the Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Bill last month.

"The Bill will be introduced in the Monsoon session of Parliament," Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation Secretary Arun Kumar Misra said at the annual convention of the National Association of Realtors (NAR) India.

The Bill will be sent to Parliamentary Standing Committee for consideration and suggestions, Mr Misra said.

The month-long Monsoon session of Parliament is expected to start late in July.

Mr Misra also disagreed with developers' contention that prices would rise by 30 per cent once this Bill is passed in Parliament.

"All that the regulatory Bill says that when you start selling the flats, all the licenses and permissions should be in place," he said.

Stating that the Bill deals with property brokers and agents as well, Mr Misra assured brokers' body NAR that they would be included in the list of associations to be consulted by the Standing Committee. He asked the brokers to bring more professionalism in their business.

Naveen Raheja, president of real estate developers' industry body NAREDCO, emphasised on the need of self-regulation.

NAR-India is an industry body for property brokers and it has 1,700 members. They are affiliated to the National Association of Realtors (NAR), a global association based in Chicago, USA.

Property brokerage firm Indiahomes' vice president Manish Mehta said NAR-India is a national level umbrella organization which initiates efforts to generate and disseminate authentic information on the realty market to increase transparency in the sector.

The Bill provides for setting up a regulator for the real estate sector and has provisions like a jail term of up to three years for developers who make offences like putting up misleading advertisements about projects repeatedly.

It also intends to make it mandatory for developers to launch projects only after acquiring all statutory clearances from relevant authorities. The Bill makes it mandatory for builders to clarify the carpet area of flats.