Minimum MahaRERA registration charges decreased from Rs.50,000 to Rs.10,000.

By Abhay Harish Shah, Realty Quarter

In order to ensure that larger units can be undertaken under its remit, particularly in rural regions, the Maharashtra Real Estate Regulatory Authority (MahaRERA) has decreased the minimum registration fee from Rs.50,000 to Rs.10,000.

The amendment took place under the revised regulations issued by the Maharashtra Housing Department on June 6th, representatives of MahaRERA said.

With the recommended Rs.10 per square meter and a minimum area under RERA of 500 square meters, the minimum cost reduction would guarantee that builders with smaller projects are urged to enroll with MahaRERA and that a cleaner fee of Rs.50,000 has been no longer paid, according to authorities.

“Many cities, other than the metropolitans, have several tiny projects distributed across just over 1,000 sq. meters or 1,200 sq. meters. If they had to register their projects, they should pay Rs.50,000 regardless of the region. But these developers would be encouraged by the decreased minimum costs to register and record their projects,” a senior MahaRERA representative said.

In May this year, MahaRERA finished its two years of operation. Officials said there are more than 21,000 projects registered in the state, the country’s maximum. The officials, therefore, took the action to guarantee more registrations and more builders are within the jurisdiction of MahaRERA.

“It was seen that most of these registrations originated from the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR) and from cities such as Pune and Nagpur, during the first and second year of enforcement of the rules. Not many registrations were made in the state’s rural regions. This year we concentrate on these fields,” said the officer of MahaRERA, who explained the need for modifications.

The revised laws have also decreased charges for plotted developments, which will result in more MahaRERA projects from the rural regions. The developer shall pay an extended fee in the case of the plotted development, as calculated on the area of land to be developed at a rate of Rs.5 per sq. meter.

The latest modifications in the regulations for the registering of projects have been made in the context of Consumer forums which urged MahaRERA to carry these amendments forward, taking the ground reality into account. “The regulations had not defined the plotted development until the next day, although RERA also dealt with plotted development. This amendment has added the concept of the plotted development to MahaRERA’s laws,” said Shirish Deshpande, President of Mumbai Grahak Panchayat. He added the lowering of Rs10 to Rs.5 per sq. meter is practical.

Furthermore, within three months of the release of the occupation certificate, a transfer to be carried out by the developers. There are no choices for delay for developers in the revised regulations.

“The previous rule indicated that developers have to provide conveyance once 50% of the home buyers pay the full consideration or within one month of the establishment of the society or three months of the date of occupancy certificate, whichever is earlier. It was unworkable. The MGP took that over with the officials and formulated the laws of origin. But then it wasn’t taken into account. In the modified rules, however, the conveyance must take place within three months of the date of the occupation certificate. It’s meaningful,” said Deshpande.

Vice-president, Shantilal Kataria of the Confederation of Real Estate Developers Association of India said the decrease of minimum registration charges would help the tier two, three and four towns and promote further developers to register with MahaRERA.