Punjab Real Estate Regulatory Authority has asked property listing platforms such as Housing.com, Magicbricks.com, and 99acres.com to get themselves challenged with the authority as real estate agents, a move that will increase compliance in the sector. The move, if followed by regulatory bodies of other states, may lead to chaos.
In their response to the authority, the property listing platforms argued that the role being played by the online housing portals is that of ‘intermediary’ and they do not take part in or carry out any property transactions.
While the step to get everyone registered is good, the authority should also focus on one country and one registration. A real estate agent, registered with any of the state RERA should be allowed to carry business in any of the states as the government is focusing on the ease of doing the business,” said Harish Bansal, Convenor, CII Delhi State Sub-Committee on RE, UD & Infra and Co-Founder of Unity Group.
Companies impacted might go to an appellate tribunal against the order as they have been directed to apply to the authority, for registration within three months.