Karnataka Government’s RERA Act Notification Makes Homebuyers Happy & Developers Cautious

Homebuyers in Karnataka are very happy as RERA covers a lot of ongoing plans. Only those projects are exempted from RERA where all development work ass been completed as per the RERA Act and certified by the competent agencies. Thus, homebuyers can benefit a lot from these provisions of the RERA Act notified by the Karnataka government. There was a lot of furore when the draft rules revealed that all ongoing projects where 60 percent of the development work is complete won’t come under the purview of the Act.

It also stated that 60 percent of the apartments/houses/plots that have been registered and executed won’t be considered under RERA. There was a lot of confusion as to how to reach a consensus on such an arbitrary number and many thought the rule will allow many developers to slip out. Thankfully, this part has been addressed, though the 60 percent sale lease deed provision stays. This new rule came as a shock to many developers who hadn’t expected such a notification.

Some of the developers even said that even though the law is customer-friendly, any retrospective law is bad and against natural justice. The rule is most stringent, according to many, as developers will now have to get waterlines, electricity lines and other things in place before applying for OC. This is because now a builder can apply for Occupation Certificate (OC) only after it has been certified by a competent agency. If the OC has already been applied for, the building is exempt from RERA regulations.

“They are almost in line with the Act as far as its application to ongoing projects is concerned,” advocate and legal consultant at RERA Consultants, E Suhail Ahmed, told ET Realty.