THINGS YOU MUST CHECK BEFORE YOU INVEST IN REAL-ESTATE.

Section 2(zn) “real estate project” means the development of a building or a building consisting of apartments, or converting an existing building or a part thereof into apartments, or the development of land into plots or apartment, as the case may be, for the purpose of selling all or some of the said apartments or plots or building, as the case may be, and includes the common areas, the development works, all improvements and structures thereon, and all easement, rights and appurtenances belonging thereto;

NUTS AND BOLTS:

1. Title of Property- Before buying a property, one should examine the orignal title deed of a property. There have been cases of fraud, where the fraudsters have a false title deed of a property and sell it to people.

Precautions: Examine originality of title deeds;

Look into the land records with the Registrar;

Issue of public notice in the newspaper, calling for claims related to the property.

2. Authorized Plans- One should always go through the commencement certificate, given by the concerned local authorities under the RERA Act 2016, which ensures that the construction has been approved by the authorities.

3. Dues- Go through an Encumbrance Certificate, which ensures us that the property is free from any legal or finanacial liabilities.

4. Builder’s Credibility- Builders are usually registered or licenced under National Council For Construction And Education Training, RERA Registration, Licence of Builders, are a few to name.

5. Bank Approved Projects- Before investing or purchasing a property, one should search for the projects that are approved by the banks. The buyer should go through the Advanced Processing Facility(APF) Code or Number. APF Number or Code is provided by the banks or Housing Finance Companies that ensures the buyer that the project has been approved considering all the necessary areas and that the buyer can move forward without worrying about the credibility of the Builder.

APF Number or Code also helps the buyer for faster loan approval.

Also, keep in mind that an accredited Bank or Housing Finance Corporation has provided the APF code to the project.

6. Purchase Agreement- Purchase agreement is a legal document that is signed by both the parties, which mentions all the clauses, agreeing to which both the parties are signing it. It is a binding contract, to which if any of the parties(buyer or seller), fails to perform his/her part, the contract would come to null and void, also the party who breached the contract can be sued.

7. Delay Clause- The buyer should promptly go through the mentioning of the Delay Clause in the Purchase Agreement. There have been cases where the builder verbally promises the buyer to complete the construction within a span of time but later is unable to do so; for which the buyer cannot claim later. In order to be on the safe side, make sure the Purchase Agreement mentions the Delay Clause and the repercussions of the breach of the said clause.

8. Hire a Legal Advisor- In this busy world it might get difficult for an individual to go through all the research work that is vital before purchasing a property. Therefore, you can always hire a legal advisor to assist you to invest in a property that might not become a burden later.

REAL-ESTATE(REGULATION AND DEVELOPMENT) ACT, 2016.

Real-Estate Regulatory Authority Act, 2016 was established to promote the Real-Estate sector with the supreme transparency. It was introduced by Dr. Girija Vyas, Minister of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation(Indian National Congress).

BENEFITS OF THE RERA:

1. RERA makes it mandatory for every builder to register himself/herself before starting a project. This creates transparency for the buyers as to the creadibility of the builder.
2. In case of discrepency of title deed, one can ask for compensation from the builder.
3. Under RERA, the builder has to keep 70% of the money received from the investors, in a seperate bank account, and can only be used for the contruction of that specific project.
4. RERA includes the delay clause and the builder has to pay the compensation with an interest to the buyer.
5. RERA provides the buyer with the ‘contruction defects’ clause, under which the buyer can report the contruction defects upto 5 years and the builder is supposed to rectify all the defects within 120 days of the report.

PUNISHMENTS AND PENALTIES UNDER RERA:

Section 59–72 of Chapter 8 of the RERA Act, 2016 deals with the offences, penalties and adjudication. Imprisonment term extending upto 1-3 years or fine or both. Imprisonment or fine depends on various kinds of offences under the Act.

You can read it in detail here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Real_Estate_(Regulation_and_Development)_Act,_2016