MahaRERA Extends Projects Completion Deadline by 6 Months

The Maharashtra Real Estate Regulatory Authority (MahaRERA) has invoked Force Majeure, within the backdrop of Covid19
BY Realty Plus
Published - Monday, 09 Aug, 2021

The Maharashtra Real Estate Regulatory Authority (MahaRERA) has invoked Force Majeure, within the backdrop of Covid19 second wave, to increase registration validity of initiatives for which completion date, revised completion date and prolonged completion date expires on or after April 15, 2021 by six months. The stated computerized extension is not going to be out there to initiatives that had been to be accomplished earlier than April 15, 2021. With this, realty builders in Maharashtra will get six extra months extension to finish their initiatives. “The time limits for compliances under Section 11, which become due anytime during force majeure period, shall stand automatically extended for a period till the expiry of force majeure period,” MahaRERA Secretary Vasant Prabhu stated. According to realty builders, as the development actions have suffered and can take a very long time to revive the provision chain and re-engagement of machines and the workforce, this prolonged window permitted by the RERA to finish the initiatives will save the builders from additional damages and permit the much-required respiratory time. “The move is expected to provide a major relief to all realty developers who are reeling under pressure of meeting the RERA guidelines amid the anticipation of a third wave of Covid19 pandemic. The demand for extension became all the more pertinent, as the second wave of Covid jolted the recovery path of the sector that was gearing up in the second half of the year,” stated Ashok Mohanani, President, NAREDCO – Maharashtra. According to him, varied components corresponding to insufficient availability of expert labour, social distancing norms at building websites, disruption in money flows resulting from elevated costs of uncooked materials and total liquidity crunch on the builders’ ends, have impacted completion of a whole lot of actual property initiatives throughout Maharashtra and in Mumbai. This the second such extension being offered by the regulator contemplating the Covid19 pandemic, lockdown introduced by the federal government, its subsequent effect on procurement of fabric, labour scarcity and building stoppage. Last 12 months, the Ministry of Housing & Urban Affairs (MoHUA) has suggested state authorities to increase the completion and registration validity timelines for actual property initiatives by 6 months throughout the nation by treating Covid19 pandemic as force majeure below the Real property (Regulation & Development) Act, 2016. State-specific RERA authorities had been additionally allowed to increase this additional by 3 extra months. Following this advisory, MahaRERA had prolonged the initiatives’ registration validity by six months till September 14, 2020. The MahaRERA notification on 6th August added that, “The extensions offered is not going to have an effect on the rights of the homebuyers as could also be out there to them below the provisions of the Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act, 20l6 and the foundations and regulation made thereunder.”