The members of Karnataka Home Buyers Forum demanded Real Estate Regulatory Authority (RERA) Karnataka issue guidelines on the completion of housing projects on the lines of Odisha Real Estate Regulatory Authority for the benefit of home buyers in Karnataka.
The members of Karnataka Home Buyers Forum met Rakesh Singh, newly appointed RERA Karnataka Chairman stating that RERA Karnataka has not released any circular or guidelines on project closure that is available to the public on the RERA website since 2017.
“We have observed that the promoters are submitting an affidavit to RERA Karnataka that they will hand over the undivided share of the title to the registered association of allottees but in reality they are not doing it. Unfortunately, RERA Karnataka is showing the project status as closed on its website. Home buyers are getting impacted because of the lack of guidelines issued by RERA Karnataka,’’ said Dhananjaya Padmanabhachar, convener, Karnataka Home Buyers Forum.
The notification of Odisha RERA indicates the documents to be furnished by the promoters before RERA Authority after completing the project.
The Odisha RERA notification also highlights that once the project is complete in all aspects, the money lying in the 70% RERA designated account will be kept as security money for the next five years to meet the expenses for rectification of structural defects within five years of handing over of the property in accordance with section 14 (3) of the Act. It said that once the above is met, then the project will be declared as closed thereafter.
He said that the apartment land is not getting transferred to the flat owners association in the absence of direction from the government. “We request the RERA Chairman to release the Project Closure Policy notification at the earliest so that promoters can start transferring common areas to the registered association of Allottees as per section 17 of RERA 2016. Other states in India including Maharashtra, Odisha have a clear direction from the state government which has been missing in Karnataka for many decades,’’ he said.
Ameya Usgaonkar, a home buyer, has said that as per RERA Act, a promoter is required to submit quarterly reports of project’s finances which includes detailed breakup of funds received and used for construction to maintain transparency and accountability of the promoter.
“The RERA Authority is obligated and duty bound to go through those reports, identify malpractices, and penalise errant promoters. None of this is enforced by RERA-K due to which homebuyers are inflicted with financial injuries,’’ said Usgaonkar.
Project completion, as per RERA Act and as clarity by Supreme Court in numerous judgements, is when a project is received both occupancy certificate (OC) and completion certificate (CC) which can happen only when the promoter has transferred title of common areas and project’s land in favour of the registered association of apartment owners. “Until such time, a project is incomplete and comes under the ambit of the RERA Act.
Unfortunately, the Karnataka government and RERA-K neither understood these basics nor took any cue from other states, such as Odisha and Maharashtra, which seem to lead in RERA implementation. RERA-K still gives clean chit to projects with partial OC in blatant contravention of the Act as well as Supreme Court judgments,’’ he said.
