At last there looks an end in sight for the harried home buyers with the Cabinet set to consider a Bill to set up a regulator for the real estate sector with provisions for jail term for the developer for putting out misleading advertisements about projects. The Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Bill, Which seeks to provide a uniform regulatory environment to the sector, was earlier taken up by the Cabinet on April 2 but was put off due to differences. The Bill is set for consideration at today's Cabinet meeting.

 

The Bill seeks to make it mandatory for developers  to launch projects only after acquiring all the statutory clearances from relevant authorities. It also has provisions under which all relevant clearances for real estate projects would have to be submitted to the regulator and also displayed on a website before starting the construction, sources said. The proposed legislation has certain tough provisions to deter builders from putting out misleading advertisements related to the projects carrying photographs of actual site. Failure to do so for the first time would attract  a penalty which may be up to 10 per cent of the project cost and a repeat offence could land the developer in jail.

 

The Bill further seeks to make it mandatory for a developer to maintain a separate bank account for every project to ensure that the money raised for a particular task is not diverted elsewhere. The proposed legislation provides for clear  definition of the 'carpet area' and would prohibit private developers from selling houses or

flats on the basis of ambiguous 'super area'. Under the proposed new law, builders will be able  to sell property only after getting all necessary clearances.

Developers will also be barred from collecting any  money from buyers before completing all necessary permits to start construction on the project.