BENGALURU:The state’s Real Estate Regulatory Authority (RERA) has made it mandatory for all real estate developers to update it on a quarterly basis about the ongoing progress of their projects as well as the expenditure incurred for every specific feature. It has also introduced certificates for approved builders on May 3 and made it public on its portal.
RERA Karnataka Chairman Kapil Mohan told The New Indian Express, “We have asked builders to send us quarterly updates and some of them have already started sending them. The first set of quarterly reports will be made public on our portal within a fortnight.”The move will reassure those who have invested their money that it was being utilised for the purpose intended, Mohan said.
“As per the RERA Act, 70% of the money collected from buyers needs to go towards cost of the project. In the update to be submitted to us, every civil work carried out needs to be spelt out and accounted for. The buyer will know exactly how much of the project is getting ready at frequent intervals,” he said.
The huge delays suffered by many projects and a lack of accountability can be averted by this rule that regular progress of every project be made public, Mohan felt.
As on date, RERA has approved 1,566 real estate projects across the state. An additional 2,156 projects are being processed for approval. There is no specific quarterly deadline for the update and the builders can decide their deadlines based on their project commencement dates, he added.“A penalty of 5% of the project cost would be levied on the builder if the update was not sent regularly,” the Chairman warned.
Meanwhile, bowing to demand from both public and builders, RERA began issuing certificates since May 3. “Despite being approved by the Authority, the builders want to show something as proof to the public when marketing them and are not satisfied with the online approval. Hence, we have launched a new section on our portal on Thursday called ‘Certificate’ which gives details on the project and our approval,” another official said.
The builder can download it and take physical copies if required, he added. Public too can take a look at them and crosscheck all details. This can be accessed on the ‘Projects List’ section seen on the home page of the portal (https://rera.karnataka.gov.in) under the ‘Applications Approved’ subhead.“A key feature of the certificates is that they have a QR code on them. So, if the builder shows a RERA certificate to the buyer, the latter can take a photo of the QR code and verify the authenticity of the certificate,” he added.
It still gives a great degree of confidence to the public if they can see something in a physical format. “To cater to that need, we have decided to introduce it,” the official said.