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Raising concerns that it could set a precedent for other states, a homebuyers’ representative and council member on Thursday told the Real Estate Regulatory Authority (RERA) Central Advisory Council that Maharashtra’s proposal for a RERA-like law for redevelopment projects could undermine the central Act.
The council, established under the Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act, 2016, held its fifth meeting in New Delhi on Thursday. Union Housing and Urban Affairs Minister Manohar Lal, who chaired the meeting, launched a unified portal for all states’ RERAs. The minister said the priority was to ensure “faster resolution of homebuyers’ grievances and revival of stalled projects so that trust between buyers and developers is further strengthened”, according to a ministry statement.
The comments come just months after Prime Minister Narendra Modi told all states to register all eligible real estate projects under the Act and monitor the grievances of homebuyers.
A member of the council and president of the Forum for People’s Collective Efforts, a homebuyers’ body, Abhay Upadhyay, raised the issue of Maharashtra’s Housing Policy 2025 that proposes a RERA-like law for redevelopment projects.
In his written submission, Upadhyay said the new law could undermine RERA’s uniform framework and cause confusion as mixed projects that have both new and redeveloped parts would have dual coverage.
“It could lead to forum shopping as builders may prefer a state law over RERA registration,” he said, adding that it could set a precedent for other states.
He pointed out that West Bengal’s version of RERA, the West Bengal Housing Industry Regulation Act, 2017, was in 2021 quashed by the Supreme Court, which found that it was attempting to create a parallel regime.
According to Ministry officials, the proposed Maharashtra law would only cover the redevelopment projects and in any case of contradiction, the central Act would prevail.
As per the Ministry, so far, 1,51,113 projects and 1,06,545 real estate agents have been registered under RERA and 1,47,383 complaints disposed of by the RERAs in states.
The council recommended that there was a need for “next generation reforms in RERA”, as per the statement. “A detailed exercise may be conducted by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs to work out the necessary measures to further strengthen RERA and also to develop the real estate sector in consultation with the stakeholders,” it said.
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