Buildings without OC must register with RERA in 3 months
In the event the regulator receives a complaint against any housing society, it will be forced to act against the respective builder.
Mumbai: Builders of lakhs of housing societies in the city that do not have an occupation certificate (OC) will have to register their projects with the recently introduced Real Estate Regulatory Authority (RERA) Act.
The regulatory authority has said that under this act, all projects that do not have an OC will be considered as ongoing projects and will get a period of three months starting May 1, 2017, to register with the housing regulator.
In the event the regulator receives a complaint against any housing society, it will be forced to act against the respective builder. Meanwhile, in the first two days itself, the state housing regulator has received applications from two developers and ten brokers to register their projects.
Gautam Chatterjee, interim officer heading RERA in the state, said, “One of the most challenging aspects of RERA will be finding those builders who completed their projects years ago and gave possession to buyers. Notices will be served only in case our office gets complaint against any project.”
As per rough estimates, around 56,000 buildings in the city do not have an OC. According to civic norms, owners cannot live in flats until it has been given an OC from the building proposal department of BMC.
Speaking from his under-construction office measuring around 6,000 square feet, Mr Chatterjee said, “We have received two applications from builders for their projects in Titwala and they are by the Mayfair Group and another by the Raunak Group. Along with this, ten brokers have also applied for getting themselves registered which will be cleared in the next two days.”
He explained further saying, “Complaints from buyers will eventually start coming in after three months. The criterion for filing complaints is that the particular project should be registered with RERA failing which a complaint can be filed against that particular builder.”
RERA is said to be a pro-buyer act and under it, all housing projects are to be registered. The act is said to make the process of buying and selling of houses “transparent” with buyers able to register complaints against builders online.