RERA should be exclusive legal forum for real estate complaints: CREDAI

At the National Real Estate Regulatory Authority (RERA) Conclave, Confederation of Real Estate Developers' Associations of India (CREDAI) has said that the government should bring about amendments in laws so as to make the RERA the first forum for complaints pertaining to real estate. According to Satish Magar, President of CREDAI, the need of the hour is to bring in amendments thereby make the RERA the first forum for complaints concerning real estate.

Jaxay Shah, chairman, CREDAI lauded RERA on its efforts to institutionalize and organize the real estate sector. However according to him, with the current economic slowdown and issues like liquidity crunch and rise in insolvent projects due to unregularized cases in the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT), it is crucial for the industry to unite and address the concerns and look for solutions.

Magar pointed out that about 450 real estate companies/projects across the country are facing insolvency proceedings, under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC), which was creating a distress situation in the sector. According to CREDAI, giving supremacy to the IBC over the RERA defeats the very intention of the legislature enactment of the RERA. RERA can be empowered, i.e., in any case any allottee being a financial creditor, has any issue with the real estate developer and the first remedy available should be RERA, he explained.

Further according to Magar, current factors like deceleration in demand owing to lower Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth and liquidity crunch faced by developers are distressing healthy projects. In order to revive the sector, a one-time restructuring of loans, for all long-term viable projects should also be introduced.