RERA in Northeast

It is good news for home-buyers in this part of the country that six NE States — Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya, Manipur, Mizoram, Nagaland, and Sikkim — have now agreed to implement the Real Estate Regulation Act. It has been almost two years since RERA was enacted by Parliament, but West Bengal and the six NE States had not notified RERA so far over land and other issues. The benefits of this law are too big to ignore, with gated communities coming up fast in urban areas here. Aiming to bring about more transparency and accountability in real estate, RERA forces builders to disclose details like a project plan, layout and government approval for sanctioned floor space index, number of buildings, etc. It can help prospective homeowners cheated by unscrupulous builders delaying in the handover of property, deviating from project plan to cut costs or hiding the legal status of the property in question. Once the State authority is set up, the homeowner can exercise rights to access all details and papers related to the project, get the contract enforced and seek fast-track redressal of dispute. Surely, these are not benefits to be missed.