Bihar cabinet approves realty rules

The Bihar cabinet on Thursday approved the Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Rules, 2017, to pave way for implementation of the central government’s Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act, 2016. According to the rules, any builder constructing an apartment with a minimum of eight flats will need to get registered with the government. Also, the builder cannot take more than 10 per cent of the flat’s cost at the time of booking.

The rules would be applicable to residential and commercial buildings and will also cover ongoing projects, completion certificate of which is not available so far. The state registration department will have to display all information about a project, its layout plan, contractor, agreement for sale and sale deeds on its website.

The important aspect of the law is that a builder can now sell a flat on basis of its carpet area, not super built-up area — the balcony, verandah and service shaft would not be part of the carpet area. In case of any defect within a year of the flat’s sale, the builder has to bear the cost of repair.