A Bill that builds transparency and accountability for survival

We welcome the bill which is poised to bring in the much needed transparency and accountability in the unorganised real estate eco-system of our country. This need was felt for long as we understand the repercussions of unregulated growth. Now, presence of unscrupulous players will diminish, paving way for genuine developers who are customer focused. We are evolving into truly a consumer-driven sector where, as the famous proverb says “Customer is the King” will be strongly adhered to. The bill has many positives that directly impart power to the consumer and this will definitely bring in the much desired confidence back into the sector. With this bill in place, no developer could dare to even think of taking customer for a ride and this is what our sector longed. This will also improve the business and encourage investments back into the sector. 70% monies being deposited in escrow is a welcome move as this will bring in discipline and ensure timely project completion. While it has been followed by genuine developers, the rest will have to now adhere to sustain them. The only concern we have is that the bill is not inclusive as it lacks to address the wanted accountability from the approving bodies. Today every developer faces the wrath of approvals and inordinate delays which has not been accounted for in the bill. This is the biggest cause of concern and reason for project delays. For transparency, we require accountability from all the parties concerned. We highly appreciate the law that states equality in imposing fine for delays, in case of home-buyer, delayed payment and for developer, delayed project. However, what we are missing here is the fact that every home-buyers payments impact the overall completion status of a project. Hence, for deferred payments from handful of home-buyers, while inconvenience is caused to all, delay fine will have to be paid by developer to all. This again misses to lay equal grounds and hence needs to be addressed. The sector due to lack of industry status faces issues with raising capital and hence, we would also look forward to a law which can ease this process. This is important as project sales are envisaged throughout the lifecycle of the project. With few hits and few misses, the bill is definitely a welcome. Real estate sector, thanks to the bill, will now witness the survival of transparent, ethical, accountable and disciplined players only.