Telangana initiates move to notify Centre's RERA by May 1, home owners set to benefit

Hyderabad: The Telangana state government is all set to notify the Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act by May 1. The Centre brought the RERA Act, 2016 in May last year to protect the interests of home buyers and asked all states to adopt the same within six months.

Only a few states have adopted the Act so far. The AP government had recently notified RERA draft rules. The TS government has initiated the process to notify the draft rules soon and bring the legislation by May 1.

With this, builders are in a hurry to give possession of houses/flats to buyers to avoid penalty provision under RERA for delayed delivery. Builders are also lobbying for relaxation of certain stringent norms incorporated under the Centre’s Act.

They want the state government to draft rules in such a manner that only those projects that were launched after the Act comes into force from May 1 this year should be brought under the ambit of State's Act.

However, the Centre already warned all the states against dilution of Centre's Act to favour builders and made it clear that states have no power to dilute its provisions.

Minister for municipal administration and urban development K.T. Rama Rao directed officials to prepare draft rules and submit to the government for approval.

Union minister for urban development M. Venkaiah Naidu had also written to Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao in Januarty this year to expedite notifying RERA Act and constitute regulatory bodies concerned by April-end.

RERA mandates that all builders have to register their projects with a state-level Housing Regulatory Authority.