MahaRERA Mandates Real Estate Developers to Set Up Redressal Cells for Homebuyers' Issues

MahaRERA has mandated real estate developers to establish grievance redressal cells to address homebuyers' complaints. At least one grievance redressal officer is expected in these cells for developers' projects. Compliance with this provision will be a crucial evaluation criterion proposed by the regulatory authority.

During the property purchase or registration process, homebuyers typically interact with the sales and marketing team. However, if issues arise later, they are often unaware of any project-specific mechanism to address the problems. The regulator has highlighted that if all the developers set up a dedicated grievance redressal cell for their respective projects, these issues can be kept under control as the complainant will get official and reliable information on time.

MahaRERA has directed that the grievance redressal cell's details, including officers' names and contact information, must be prominently displayed on the project site and the developer's website. MahaRERA has directed that the grievance redressal cell's details, including officers' names and contact information, must be prominently displayed on the project site and the developer's website. Several factors, such as financial viability of the project, technical approvals from competent authorities, pending litigations, and compliance reports updated within the prescribed period on the MahaRERA portal, will be considered by the regulator to determine a project's rating.

The authority will implement the process of determining project ratings in phases to give developers sufficient time to understand the criteria. The first phase will include the announcement of objective information about the project, such as project details, location, developer, and facilities.

The technical details will include the Commencement Certificate (CC), quarterly and annual compliance reports, and booking percentage. Financial details will cover financial liabilities, financial progress of the project, and annual audit certificates. Legal details will indicate any cases against the project, complaints, and warrants issued by MahaRERA.

The second and final phase will release four key snapshots of the project based on the information provided in the first phase to determine the ranking. These snapshots will include an overview of the project, technical details, financial details, and legal details. Project ratings will be announced twice a year based on information from October 2023 to March 2024. The information used to determine the ranking will be publicly available to homebuyers, and the rankings will be made public from April 20, 2024. 

The regulator has appointed a real estate intelligence agency to assist its compliance cell in obtaining information on projects that have lapsed, are financially stressed, or have not been submitting quarterly reports or adhering to regulatory compliance.

By LNN (Liyaans News Network)