Registration Of Real Estate Projects With K-RERA Likely To Start From Jan 1

Kerala Real Estate Regulatory Authority (K-RERA) has formed to ensure transparency in the state’s realty market and protect consumer interests, is now functional and has started accepting complaints, said P. H. Kurien, K-RERA Chairman.

The Registration of real estate projects under Kerala RERA is expected to commence from 1st January 2020. It will also set a 3-months time frame for real estate developers to register their all ongoing and upcoming projects. The period is expected to be from 1st January 2020 to 31st March 2020. The points to be noted here that all the ongoing projects where the completion certificate has not been issued fall within the ambit of “Ongoing Project”.

Mr. Kurien further added that the Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act 2016, makes it mandatory for builders to register every project with the state RERA and the same applies to real estate agents. The condition is that only projects that are in sync with existing laws and regulations can be registered. Builders are also restricted from advertising or marketing unregistered projects. The advertisements should be stick to the project specifics presented during the registration.

“We are waiting for more complainants to come to light. Until now, we only had 3-4 complaints,” said Kurien. Speaking to media on the interests of an awareness meeting organized for builders, agents, and buyers, Kurian said that registration and receiving complaints will soon be made online.

Earlier, the meeting organized for builders saw them raise matters regarding the conditions in K-RERA rules concerning to common area and occupancy.

RERA registration is applicable to all projects where the land to be developed is 500 sq.m or more and the number of apartments is 8 or more inclusive of all phases.

The builders indicated that with the occupancy certificate being an important part under RERA, the situation in the state on owning completion certificate as a pre-condition for application of several facilities by KSEB and KWA requires to be taken into account. RERA rules which have been modeled on other states can not be followed as such in Kerala since they approve all facilities to be safeguard before getting the completion certificate.

When questioned about RERA’s emphasis on carpet area while the new building rules have completely get rid of the term and replaced it with the built-up area. RERA can advise the Kerala Govt to include important changes. If needed, we can ask the govt to replace the carpet area in the building rules. The variation in rules may not be a restriction for the constant functioning of RERA”. K-RERA is also planning on conducting more and more awareness conferences across several parts of the state, said Kurien.

The rules direct that the promoter will have to pay a registration charge at the time of application which is individually fixed for plot and depending upon information in which application is made. For the plot, the amount is calculated at Rs 10/sq.m of the plot area. And for buildings, it is calculated at Rs 25/sq.m of the total floor area of residential projects and Rs 50/sq.m of total floor area depending upon the nature of projects awaiting occupancy certificate. The commercial projects or any other projects will be charged a registration fee of Rs 100/sq.m of the total floor area.

At present, complaints concerning the sector are controlled by the courts, which actually is a remedial task. RERA’s exercises are meant to be preventive in nature. The builders can also file complaints with the authority. The authority is also empowered to register cases on its own initiative.

The RERA Act makes it mandatory for the state RERA to design a web portal for registration and registering of complaints within one year of its establishment. The authority expects that the portal will be ready in 6-months in Kerala. Until then, complaints and the registration process will be managed physically.

At present, K-RERA has designated Mr. Kurien, the chairman, and Preetha Menon, a member. It is expected that by January end, the authority will designate an adjudicating officer who will manage compensation claims. It is clear that the authority will be a retired district judge. The authority will also set conciliation forums for grievance redressal through discussion. There will also be an appellate tribunal for managing plea on K-RERA decisions.