SAHAKARSUTRA

The Maharashtra  Real Estate   Regulatory Authority ( MahaRERA ) has decided to slap a minimum penalty of Rs 1 lakh or an amount equivalent of its registration fees, whichever is higher, for ongoing projects registration applications to be received between August 3 and August 16. “Applications made for registration of ongoing projects after August 16 will be heard on case-to-case basis and the penalty will be decided by the authority. The builder then will have to explain as to why the application cannot be rejected,” said a top MahaRERA official. The project registration fee ranges from minimum of Rs 50,000 to Rs 10 lakh depending on the size of the specific project. This quantum of penalty will be applicable for all applications received in the office of MahaRERA until 5pm of 16 August. “We have received 500 applications for registration of ongoing projects until August 2 and has so far received additional 500 such applications after that,” said the official. “We have decid...

[The Committee on Subordinate Legislation has said, “While recognizing that each state have their respective development laws, sanctioning procedures]  Instruct the states to either amend their real estate regulation rules  or re-notify them, a parliamentary panel has recommended the housing and urban affairs ministry taking note of many states have diluted the rules in favour of builders. The Committee on Subordinate Legislation has said, “While recognizing that each state have their respective development laws, sanctioning procedures, and other land related unique issues, the committee recommend that the ministry should strictly instruct the states to either amend their Rules or re-notify them in line with the letter and spirit of the Act.” The panel has also mentioned that the real estate regulation law has an overriding effect on conflicting laws being made by some states and the Central government has the power to amend, vary, repeal any state l...

August 13, 2017 Dear Sanjay Kelkar ji, A very disturbing report has appeared in the media that on August 7, 2017, the State Cabinet has decided to hike the Stamp Duty on transfers of property ( including in blood relations) from Rs. 500/- to 3% of market value. My submission to you in this regard is as under: 1] Maharashtra government had decided to waive stamp duty on transfer of immovable property by the owner to an heir or a family member. The decision was announced by Revenue Minister Eknath Khadse in the Legislative Assembly. Khadse also added that all such transactions would have to be compulsorily registered with the government. 2] Government has issued the notification regarding the amendment in the Maharashtra Stamp Act Amendment bill 20/2015, on 24th April, 2015, as per the notification the waive stamp duty on transfer of immovable property by the owner to an heir or a family member, will be applicable w.e.f. 24th April, 2015. 3] On May 15, 2017,...

As many as 900 residential and commercial unit holders who have collectively defaulted on  payment  of Rs 80 crore as property taxes are likely to face the heat now as the administration is planning to initiate stern  action  including attachment and auction of their respective properties to recover the dues. The decision was arrived at a closed door meeting recently held between senior officials after municipal commisioner Sanjeev Jaiswal reportedly expressed his displeasure over the poor recovery of taxes. The administration is presently in the process of despatching notices to these  defaulters , spread across the city, following which it is likely to start sealing and seizing their properties as mandated by the  Maharashtra  municipal act and provision of taxation rules. A recent review of the tax recovery for the previous fiscal revealed that these defaulters were yet to clear theit dues for the last few years ranging in lakhs. The outstand...

There is a lot of confusion among members and office bearers of Cooperative Housing Societies (CHS) on the applicability of goods and service tax (GST). Here I have tried to provide some insights on the applicability of GST for CHS in Maharashtra. Why is Maharashtra Housing Societies covered under GST? GST is applicable to the dealer-person who is rendering service or supplying goods in the regular course of business activity. ‘Person’ has been defined under 2(84) as follows: “person” includes— (a) an individual; (b) a Hindu Undivided Family; (c) a company; (d) a firm; (e) a Limited Liability Partnership; (f) an association of persons or a body of individuals, whether incorporated or not, in India or outside India; (g) any corporation established by or under any Central Act, State Act or Provincial Act or a Government company as defined in clause (45) of section 2 of the Companies Act, 2013; (h) any corporate incorporated by or under the laws of a country outside...

[Even as the figures of developers registering with MahaRERA crossing the the 10,000-mark by July 31 evening, the consumers appeared quite concerned about the builders not getting registered with the authority.]   Consumer forums  in the state have urged the government to bring all unregistered builders under the  MahaRERA  ambit and slap penalty on them for any delay in registration. Even as the figures of developers registering with MahaRERA crossing the the 10,000-mark by July 31 evening, the consumers appeared quite concerned about the builders not getting registered with the authority. The Mumbai Grahak Panchayat has written to CM  Devendra Fadnavis  and MahaRERA, stating that there should be compulsion for all ongoing projects to be registered, even if was beyond the deadline. In its letter, the association suggested a penalty of 5% on the developers registering their projects till August 15 and another 5% till the end of the month. For the deve...

MahaRera secretary Vasant Prabhu said another 268 projects were uploaded for registration on August 1 after the deadline expired. The state real estate authority  RERA  received 10,852 applications from builders across the state to register their projects under the new Act till July 31 midnight. July 31 was the cut-off limit for developers to upload their project plans and other details with the authority.  MahaRera  secretary Vasant Prabhu said another 268 projects were uploaded for registration on Tuesday after the deadline expired. "We will have to decide about whether to charge a penalty on them or not," he said. The penalty could be up to 10% of the project cost, although sources said the authority is likely to be lenient on these late applications. Meanwhile,  Pune  has recorded the maximum registrations of real estate projects (2,097) in the state under RERA as the deadline expired on Monday midnight. This was followed by suburban Mumbai where...

[Until the midnight of July 31, the regulator has received total 10,852 applications for registration of ongoing projects across Maharashtra] The Maharashtra Real Estate Regulatory Authority has received two complaints from homebuyers against developers over the last one week. However, the regulator has not received any complaints on first day after the deadline for registering ongoing projects came to an end on July 31, said an official from MahaRERA. Until the midnight of July 31, the regulator has received total 10,852 applications for registration of ongoing projects across Maharashtra. The regulator is expected to take at least a month to process all the applications that have come so far and register all the projects. While these complaints have been made against the developers of ongoing projects, only after these projects are registered, the authority will be in a position to initiate any action on valid complaints, the official said. The government enacted the R...

[The DB Realty group companies had moved the high court questioning the "extreme, unreasonable" provision under Rera that requires ongoing projects to be registered with the authority] The Bombay High Court has observed that applicability of  Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act ( Rera ) has to be tested and sought affidavits from the  Centre  and the state in reply to a clutch of petitions by Mumbai builders who challenged the constitutional validity of certain provisions of the Act The DB Realty group companies had moved the high court questioning the "extreme, unreasonable" provision under Rera that requires ongoing projects to be registered with the authority, set up under the new real estate  regulatory  law or else face penal consequences. The HC bench of Justices Anoop Mohata and Anuja Prabhudessai directed the Centre and the state to file a reply in three weeks and posted the matters for hearing after four weeks. Replies have to be filed a...