Around 1,824 housing projects in the state have been declared as “expired” for overshooting completion deadlines set by the Maharashtra Real Estate Regulatory Authority (MahaRERA).
The projects would now need consent from 51% buyers for securing extension of the respective completion dates. There are 103 such projects that exceeded the deadline in 2017, 541 in the following year and 1,180 in 2019.
Many of the projects had failed to complete even after extension of one year as per Section 6 of the Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act. “All these projects would now require consent of 51% buyers under Section 7(3) of the Act,” an official said.
According to the Act, the developers of these projects are prohibited from selling, advertising or marketing them before seeking the extension. Of the 1,824 projects listed as expired by MahaRERA, applications for extension of 350 projects have been submitted. “These applications are under scrutiny,” an official privy to the development said.
MahaRERA had given an extension to the deadlines up to September for the projects that were supposed to be completed in March. “The rest of the projects had deadlines before the pandemic year of 2020,” a MahaRERA official said. Most of the projects are based in Pune, Mumbai, Thane and Raigad.
Another 1,500 projects might be under the scanner as their deadline was over in March 2021. The developers of these projects can now avail of extension of a period of one year under Section 6 of RERA.
Developers felt that the authorities should take a “considerate approach” as the market had been down and there were difficulties in procuring documents within the deadline.
Anarock Property consultants chairman Anuj Puri said the MahaRERA’s move sent out a strong signal to the errant developers delaying the projects. “Homebuyers have been waiting to get possession of projects for the past three years. Last year was unique with the pandemic creating disruption in the supply chain and non-availability of constructions. It (2020) should be treated as an exception,” he said.
Credai Maharashtra president Sunil Furde told: “MahaRERA was right in pointing out the status of the unfinished projects. But many projects are shown ‘incomplete’ because of technical reasons. The authorities should evaluate this.”
He said projects of Credai members listed on the portal had been completed on time. “The completion certificate of these projects has been received from the municipal corporations before the registered dates. There are some projects that were completed but the completion certificates were received later,” Furde said.