The MahaRera has appointed a real estate intelligence agency to help its compliance cell get firsthand information about real estate projects that are lapsed, financially stressed, or those that have not been submitting quarterly reports or adhering to regulatory compliances.
The agency will provide MahaRera a parallel mechanism to check “real-time status of the project”, including providing the project’s onsite photos and stages of completion. The agency will help MahaRera take corrective action against any project whose developer provides false information, or doesn’t provide any information.
Initially, the agency is expected to provide details of areas such as the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR), Pune, Nashik, Aurangabad and Nagpur, among others, where more than 80% of the projects in the state are located. Initially, the agency may be asked to check status of lapsed projects, or projects that have been red-flagged or which haven’t been submitting quarterly and annual progress and compliance reports.
The projects may range from ones that may have been handed over to homebuyers with occupancy certificate, to ones where homebuyers may have taken possession of houses without occupancy certificate. There might also be projects that may be progressing at a very slow pace, or have stalled. Once the agency provides the true status, classifications can be made and suitable action can be pursued.
After an auditing firm employed by it raised concerns about some projects, MahaRera had red-flagged as many as 313 large projects in the state that involve investments of more than Rs 50 crore. The red flags include cases of promoters expending more than 75% of the total expenditure estimated for the project, while work completed on the project is less than 50%. In some instances, the deadline for handing over the project is just six months away, while work completed is less than 50%.
