At the outset, the Background of Enactment of a legislation namely “The Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act, 2016 (RERA)” is provided below on the basis of which Uttar Pradesh Real Estate Regulatory Authority (U.P. RERA) was formed:
BACKGROUND
Enactment of a legislation viz. “The Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act, 2016 (RERA)”
During the years 2015 and 2016, a tremendous pressure came on the real estate sector, which resulted in
- a big number of real estate projects coming to a halt with little or no progress;
- a limited recourse available to the home buyers, who had invested their life-savings, to a fast resolution of their problems;
- developers becoming non-responsive and
- serious constraints faced by the development authorities in regulating the developers.
The transparency, the timely delivery of projects, and discipline became the need of the hour. Therefore, in order to (a) help the consumers, (b) bring about transparency and financial discipline and (c) to develop and transform the real estate sector, the Government of India enacted a significant legislation namely “The Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act, 2016 (RERA)”. The Rajya Sabha passed the Real Estate Bill on 10th March, 2016 and the Lok Sabha on 15th March, 2016. The Hon’ble President assented to the Bill, as passed by the Parliament, on 25th March, 2016 and in the Official Gazette, the Act was published on 26th March, 2016.
Objects and Reasons for framing “The Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act, 2016 (RERA)”.
The following are the objects and reasons for framing the above mentioned Act::
- protecting interest of allottes and ensuring accountability towards them;
- infusing transparency, ensuring fair-play and reducing frauds & delays;
- Introducing professionalism and pan India standardization;
- establishing symmetry of information between the promoter and allottee;
- imposing on both promoter and allottees certain responsibilities
- establishing regulatory oversight mechanism to enforce contracts;
- establishing fast- track dispute resolution mechanism
- promoting good governance in the sector which in turn would create investor confidence
ESTABLISHMENT OF UTTAR PRADESH REAL ESTATE REGULATORY AUTHORITY (U.P. RERA)
Under Section 20 and Section 43 of the Act, the appropriate Government, which for the State, as per section 2(g)(iv) of The Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act, 2016 is the State Government, was required to establish the Regulatory Authority and the Appellate Tribunal respectively within 1 year from its commencement of the Act i.e. maximum by 30th April, 2017. The State of Uttar Pradesh published “The Uttar Pradesh Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Rules, 2016” on 27th October, 2016 and also issued the orders to establish the regulatory authority namely Uttar Pradesh Real Estate Regulatory Authority (U.P.RERA).
OPERATIONS OF U.P.RERA
U.P. RERA has been operating under a set of
(1) The Uttar Pradesh Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Rules, 2016 published on 27th October, 2016, which were made under section 84 of the Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act, 2016 and
(2) The Uttar Pradesh Real Estate Regulatory Authority (General) Regulations, 2019 published on 27th February, 2019, which were made under Section 85 of the Real Estate (Regulations and Development) Act, 2016.
These are available under the Tab “LEGAL” on the website of U.P.RERA, as shown below
Rules Published on 27th October, 2016
The Uttar Pradesh Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Rules, 2016 published on 27th October, 2016 contain Rules, which pertain, inter alia to the following aspects:
- Real Estate Project
- Real Estate Agent
- Details To be published on the Website of the Authority
- Rate of Interest payable By Promoter and Allottee and Timelines
- Real Estate Regulatory Authority
- Real Estate Appellate Tribunal
- Offences and Penalties
Regulations Published on 27th February, 2019
The Uttar Pradesh Real Estate Regulatory Authority (General) Regulations, 2019 published on 27th February, 2019 have Regulations, which pertain, inter alia, to the following aspects:
- Formats of Certificates of Architect, Engineer and Chartered Accountant
- Additional Disclosures by Promoters on the Website and Project site
- Adjudication proceedings
- Orders of the Authority
- Authority’s records-documentation, inspection, confidentiality and accessibility
- Interim Orders, investigation, inquiry, collection of information, etc
- Review of decisions, directions, and orders
- Issue of orders and directions
- General power to amend/rectify
- Extension or abridgement of time prescribed
- Effect of non-compliance
- Costs
ROLE BEING PLAYED BY UTTAR PRADESH REAL ESTATE REGULATORY AUTHORITY (U.P. RERA)
Uttar Pradesh Real Estate Regulatory Authority (U.P. RERA) has been playing a pivotal role to safeguard the interests of stakeholders in U.P. in the real estate sector. Some of the most important measures taken by the Authority include the following, which are helping ensuring fairness, transparency and accountability in the sale and purchase of properties:
- Compulsory Registration of the Promoter, Agent as well as of Authorized Entity under Section 8.
- Compulsory Registration of on-going and new Projects, which should be done with the same names as recorded in sanctioned maps, Detailed Information required to be provided about projects, helps homebuyers to make informed decisions. Further, this aids bringing accountability and transparency and avoids project delays, financial discrepancies and misleading advertisements. Instances of fraudulent developers are also reduced.
- Availability of Public Database of project related information online from where buyers can verify about the developer and authenticity of the project.
- Housing units to be sold only based on the carpet area, which helps in eliminating confusion among homebuyers, as selling property based on ‘Super Area’ is deemed illegal under the RERA Act. UP
- Developers to provide QR code with the help of which homebuyers can retrieve information like project status, progress reports and approvals etc.
- Requirement of Consent from Landowner and Joint Development agreement with him in case land is not owned by promoter.
- Requirement of an Affidavit from the Promoter confirming that the land of the project is unencumbered
- Emphasis on Completion and Occupancy Certificates as provided in U.P. RERA’s provisions.
- Emphasis on adherence to Approved Plans, which are required to be disclosed so that promised specifications facilities and amenities are ensured to the buyers.
- Escrow Account opening for each project helps in minimizing the diversion of funds by the developers to their other projects thus reducing the financial risks of the
- Emphasis on providing Periodic updates about the progress of projects to U.P. RERA, which can be easily accessed by the public through the online portal.
- Mandate to developers to abide by stipulated timelines for project delivery failing which provisions have been made for penalties and compensation to sufferers.
- Project Monitoring Mechanism helps in completion of the Projects timely and in avoiding unnecessary delay on the part of the developer..
- Inclusion of names of co-allottees mandatory in homebuyers’ complaints, which ensures involvement of all the concerned parties in the resolution process.
- Training for all real estate agents – existing and new – aim for which is educating the real estate agents with respect to the RERA Act and UP RERA rules.
- Issuance of detailed guidelines for Mutual Settlements between developers and homebuyers help both parties.
- Availability of a structured dispute resolution mechanism helps in ensuring fair and quick resolutions avoiding legal cases.
- Establishment of a Robust Mechanism for Redressal of Grievances has strengthened consumer protection and enhanced confidence of the buyers in the real estate sector.
- Conduction of Consumer Awareness Programs and workshops aids in educating homebuyers about their responsibilities and rights.
U.P. RERA SERVICES THROUGH WEB PORTAL
U.P. RERA provides a plethora of services through its website and aims at providing all the services online by striving continuously for minimizing the manual interface of the stake holders with the Authority
ABOUT RERA
One can have information about U.P.RERA from the Tab “ABOUT RERA” available on the website, .as shown below:
LOGIN
Under the Tab “LOGIN”, one can select the desired lOGIN on the U.P.RERA website:
REGISTRATIONS WTH U.P. RERA
Under the Tab ‘REGISTRATIONS, following options are available:
(1) REGISTRATION AS A PROMOTER IN U.P. RERA – PROCEDURE
A real estate promoter is required to register by following the steps mentioned below:
Step 1: On the Home Page of the website of U.P. RERA, the Promoter has to go to the ‘Registrations’ tab and Opt for ‘Promoter’.
Step 2: For verification of Mobile of the Promoter, Mobile number is required to be entered after which an OTP is received on that number.
Step 3: Thereafter, OTP received is entered and “Verify” button is required to be clicked.
Step 4: The Promoter is directed to the promoters’ registration page and he is required to fill in details.
Applicant Type may be selected by clicking in the text box where following options appear.
- Individual
- Company
- Proprietorship Firm
- Societies
- Partnership Firm
- Competent Authority
- Local Authority
- Association of Persons (AOP)
- Limited Liability Partnership (LLP)
Relevant option is required to be selected and all the asked fot details need to be entered and required documents to be uploaded in the jpg/png/pdf formats. (Size mentioned in the form) For example,
For Individual : PAN, Aadhaar and Photograph of the applicant are required to be uploaded and .
For Company : Company Registration Certificate, CIN/PAN,TAN, Brief detail of Enterprise, Photograph of Chairman and Photographs of all Directors need to be uploaded.
Now text box given before Number of projects launched in past 5 years is clicked and the relevant option is selected. For each project, the following informations need to be entered :
As regards Pending court cases, if ‘Yes’, is selected, following details are required to be entered:
Now Audited Balance Sheet of preceding year and ITR of last 3 years are to be uploaded as can be seen below:
Then, Save button is to be clicked to complete Promoter Registration
(2) REGISTRATION AS A REAL ESTATE AGENT IN U.P. RERA – PROCEDURE
Under Section 9 of the RERA Act, a real estate agent is mandated to register himself as an agent with the RERA if he wishes to facilitate the purchase or sale of any plot or a building or an apartment, as the case may be, in a real estate project or a part of it registered with the real estate regulatory authority. Similarly, for acting on behalf of any person to facilitate such services, he has to register himself with the Authority..
The fee as prescribed for Registration is to be paid online and a unique agent registration number is allotted. The promoters can then link the registered agents with their registered projects. The following procedure is followed:
Step 1: On the Official website of U.P. RERA, the Real Estate Agent has to go to the ‘Registrations’ tab and Opt for “Agent’.
Step 2: The following page will appear wherein required details are to be entered along with Bank details :
Applicant Type may be selected by clicking in the text box where following options will appear.
- Individual
- Company
- Proprietorship Firm
- Partnership Firm
Necessary details will have to be filled in and fees to be paid for completing the process.
- (3) REGISTRATION OF AUTHORIZED ENTITY UNDER SECTION 8 IN U.P. RERA – PROCEDURE
Step 1: On the Official website of U.P. RERA, the Promoter has to go to the ‘Registrations’ tab and Opt for Authorized Entity U/S 8.
Step 2: For verification of Mobile of the Authorized Entity, Mobile number is required to be entered after which an OTP is received on that number.
Step 3: Thereafter, “Verify” button is required to be clicked when a page appears from where the Authorized Entity Type may be selected by clicking in the text box where following options appear
- Individual
- Company
- Proprietorship Firm
- Societies
- Partnership Firm
- Competent Authority
- Local Authority
- Association of Persons (AOP)
- Association of Allottees
- Existing Promotor
In case, “Individual” is selected, following page appears where the required details are to be entered:
The Rest of the Process is same as mentioned above in the case of Registration of Promoter.
- REGISTRATION OF A PROJECT IN P. RERA – PROCEDURE
Step 1: On the Official website of U.P. RERA, the Promoter has to go to the ‘Registrations’ tab and Opt for ‘Project’ and folloing will appear
- Now click on PROJECTS in REGISTRATIONS button. The following screen appears
The below two screens also move on the right side of “Login Now”
In the user type, one is required to select from Promoter or Agent or Competent Authority. If Promoter is selected, , his valid Login ID and Password will have to be entered and after entering captcha, Login is to be clicked. Thereafter, required details, as reqiored by the Authority, are to be filled in by the promoter and he is required to pay the prescribed registration fee through the online payment gateway. Once payment is successful, Project Registration process gets completed.
Detailed Guidelines made by U.P. RERA are available with regard to registration of any Project.
INFORMATION THAT MAY BE OF INTEREST TO THE STAKEHOLDERS DEPENDING UPON THEIR RESPECTIVE CONCERNS
(A) The definition of ‘promoter’ in the Act includes both Development Authorities and the Housing Boards, when involved in sale
(B) In the case of joint development, where the two persons are different i.e. the person, who constructs or converts a building into apartments or develops a plot for sale is different from the and the person, who sell apartments or plots, both of them are deemed to be the promoters and are jointly liable, under this Act or the rules and regulations made thereunder”.
(C) The ‘allottee’ includes a person, who acquires an ‘apartment / a plot’ through transfer or sale, but does not include a person, who is given on rent such apartment or plot.
(D) ‘ Community and commercial facilities’, being an integral part of the project, to be handed over to the Association of Allottees., are part of ‘common areas’
(E) ‘Open parking areas’ are a part of ‘common areas’ and, as such , such areas cannot be sold to the allottees.
(F) In case of default by the ‘promoter’ or the ‘allottee’, the rate of interest payable by either party is the same?
(G) Any medium adopted in soliciting for sale, including SMS and e-mails, are covered under the definition of “Advertisement”.
(H) Under the Act, following are covered:
- both residential and commercial real estate;
- on-going / incomplete projects and future projects;
- all projects within a ‘planning area’ – whether in urban or rural area. with a power to the Authority to register projects beyond the planning area
(I) The following projects are exempt from the ambit of the Act and are not required to be registered under the Act:
i. where the area of land does not exceed 500 square meters
ii. where the number of apartments does not exceed 8, inclusive of all phases;
iii. where the completion certificate has been received by the promoter prior to commencement of this Act;
iv. where renovation or repair or re-development is there but without involving marketing, advertising selling or new allotment of any apartment, plot or building
(J) The Regulatory Authority is required to register the project within 30 days of the application having been received by the Authority. in compliance of the Act /Rules and Regulations. If there is a failure on the part of the Authority to take a decision within the said period of 30 days, the project is deemed to be registered.
(K) The promoter is required to maintain a ‘separate account’ for every project undertaken by him wherein, for the purposes of land cost and construction, he has to deposit 70% of the money received by him from the allottees. The account should be self maintained as an escrow account will not serve the purpose.
(L) Under the following two situation, the registration granted to a project can be extended:
i) in case of force majeure, which mean a war, flood, drought, fire, cyclone, earthquake or any other calamity caused by nature
ii) in the case of a reasonable circumstances, without the fault of the promoter, for which extension shall not be more than a maximum period of 1 year.
(M) The promoter cannot accept a sum of more than Ten percent of the apartment / plot cost as an advance payment / application fees. Further collection towards the apartment / plot cost can be made only after the promoter enters into an ‘Agreement for Sale’ with the allottee.
U.P. RERA issues Circulars, Officers Orders and Notices etc. from time to time, In the month of April, 2024, following were issued by them:
03.4.2024 Guidelines for submitting self-attested physical copies of the complaint-form and attached documents to the UP RERA Office.
12.4.2024 Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for enrollment of Real Estate Promoters
18.4.2024 Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for certified copy of the orders of Authority
20.4.2024 Proforma of application for for the addition of co-allttee name in complaint form
U.P. RERA FEES AND CHARGES
Project Registration Fee can be calculated by using the following service on U.P.RERA Website:
Fee for Agents
Fee for Promoters
Other Charges
REGISTERATION OF COMPLAINT ON RERA U.P. WEBSITE
As per Section 31 of the Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act, 2016 (RERA), for any violation or contravention of the provisions of this Act or the rules and regulations made there under, an aggrieved person ( which includes any voluntary consumer association or the association of allottees registered under any law for the time being in force) can file a complaint with the Regulatory Authority or the adjudicating officer against any promoter, allottee or real estate agent, as the case may be.
In U.P. RERA, following options are available with regard to Complaints:
On selecting option “Register Complaint, the following page appears:
Thereafter, details are required to be entered by the complainant, as required by the Authority.
CONCILIATION FORUM
In connectin with Conciliation,, one can select ‘Conciliation Login’ or ‘Conciliation Status by clicking the ”CONCILIATION FORUM” , as shown below:
REQUESTS
The following Requests can be made to the Authority by a stakehlder
DOWNLOADS
Following ‘DOWNLOADS” are available on the website:
ANNUAL REPORTS
To the reasons best known to the U.P. RERA, Annual Reports for only 2 years viz. 2018-19 and 2019-20 are available on its Website, as can be seen below:
CONTACT SETAILS OF UP RERA
U.P. RERA can be contacted, as shown below:
CONCLUSION
Uttar Pradesh was one of the first states to promulgate the Rules on October 27, 2016 and also to issue orders to establish the regulatory authority namely Uttar Pradesh Real Estate Regulatory Authority (U.P.RERA). This Authority has been trying to provide yeoman service in U.P. to the stakeholders in real estate sector. From the initiatives taken by U.P. RERA in the recent past, it can be said that the agency has been fulfilling its objective in bringing creditability, transparency, efficiency and responsibility among the stakehlders. The website of the Uttar Pradesh Real Estate Regulatory Authority (U.P.-RERA) offers a wide range of stakeholders’ friendly features, which have streamlined the whole process pertaining to the real estate sector in the state of Uttar Pradesh.