BHUBANESWAR: Execution of sale deeds for apartments, which was stalled for over two years due to litigation issues and confusion over RERA rules and the Apartment Ownership Act, will resume from April, said revenue and disaster management minister Suresh Pujari.
He said talks are on with the development authorities and all bottlenecks will be removed by the month-end. “There are some issues with part plot and apartment registrations for some time,” Pujari said.
The minister said the govt has issued a notification to simplify the procedure of apartment registration. “As per the notification, apartments and buildings built before the RERA Act will not come under its purview,” he said.
According to the minister, this will resolve the problems faced in the resale of older apartments, which is currently an issue for both buyers and sellers. “We also held talks with the RERA authority and prepared a draft rule to simplify the procedure,” he said.
He added that the housing and urban development department and the revenue and disaster management department are working together to find a solution. “By the end of March, we will issue the clarification and notification on this matter,” Pujari said.
The sale deed registration of apartments came to a standstill in May 2022 after the Orissa high court, hearing a petition, issued an order to the govt asking it to register only those apartments built adhering to all the rules and regulations relating to real estate.
The registration of apartments resumed partially in May 2024 after the enactment of the Odisha Apartment (Ownership and Management) Act of 2023. However, the number remained low since the Act requires an occupancy certificate for a building to register.
“There are many older apartments, especially in Bhubaneswar, which do not have proper documents such as an occupancy certificate, environmental clearance, and more. This hampers the registration since the rules need to be followed,” real estate expert Bimalendu Pradhan said.
He suggested that the govt must come up with a regularisation method for the older buildings. “The govt has issued a notification for retrospectively considering the older apartments, but still the problem lies in the rules to be followed,” Pradhan said.
