Housing minister says government will soon issue a special advisory to save homebuyers interest.

Housing and Urban Affairs Minister Hardeep Singh Puri said the government will soon issue an advisory to all real estate regulatory bodies and state about the special measures that must be taken to protect the interests of homebuyers and all other stakeholders in the real estate industry.

In an urgent meeting of the Central Advisory Council (CAC) formed under the provisions of the Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act, 2016 (RERA), held on April 29th via a the webinar, Puri addressed the effect of the Covid-19 pandemic and the consequent national lockdown on the real estate sector and treated it as a ‘Force Majeure’ event under the RERA provisions.

Amitabh Kant, CEO, NITI Aayog, Durga Shanker Mishra, Secretary, MOHUA, Sh A K Mendiratta, Secretary, Department of Legal Affairs, Principal Secretaries and Chairpersons of several States’ Real Estate Regulatory Authorities, representatives of homebuyers, real estate developers, CREDAI, NAREDCO, Financial Institutions and other stakeholders participated in the virtual meeting.

The meeting mulled on the issues of the real estate industry, in particular the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and the consequent national lockdown.

The housing minister told all the participants after thorough discussions that the issue would be addressed taking into consideration the concerns of all stakeholders.

There has been a request to include special relief for the real estate industry so that the business can deal with the negative consequences of the global crisis. COVID-19 has also disrupted construction operations leading to large-scale reverse labour migration and supply chain disruption of different construction materials.