Rajya Sabha passed Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Bill, 2015

On 10th March 2016 Rajya Sabha passed the Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Bill, 2015. 
•    The bill among other provisions seeks to set up a Real Estate Regulatory Authority (RERA) for the orderly growth of the real state sector.
•    The Bill seeks to regulate transactions between buyers and promoters and provides for setting up of state level regulatory authorities.
•    It also provides for registration of promoters and agents with the authorities.
•    The promoters are mandated to deposit 70 percent of the money collected from buyers in a separate bank account, to be used only for construction of that project.
•    They will also have to disclose project information including details of the promoter, land status, status of approvals, agreements along with details of real estate agents and contractors.
•    The commercial real estate has also been brought under the ambit of the Bill.
•    Projects under construction are also required to be registered with the RERA.
•    If builders cause delays in transferring properties to buyers, the appellate tribunal would intervene and slap fines on them within 60 days. In case consumers fail to make payments to developers, the appellate tribunal can fine them, too.
•    It provides for imprisonment of up to three years in case of promoters and up to one year in case of real estate agents and buyers for any violation of orders of Appellate Tribunals or monetary penalties or both.
•    The builders would also be responsible for fixing structural defects for five years after transferring the property to a buyer.
•    Buyers will now be paying only for the carpet area and not the super built-up area.
•    The developers will now have to take consent of 66 per cent of the homebuyers in case they have to increase the number of floors or change the building plans. This will protect the buyers from any ad-hoc changes that are a norm presently.
•    Projects only below the size of 500 square meters are exempted from the