favours for home buyers

The Real Estate Bill which was passed in the Rajya Sabha on Thursday largely seeks to protect the interest of home buyers, at the same time aims to bring more transparency, accountability and efficiency in a sector which has hitherto been fundamentally unregulated and unorganised.

Delays in project delivery by developers, zero accountability on builders and opacity in project details and payment structures has blemished the credibility of the real estate sector for a long time resulting in lack of trust of buyers, which this bill aims to set right.

Moving ‘The Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Bill, 2015′ for consideration and passage, Urban Development Minister M Venkaiah Naidu said, it will not only bring transparency but also help in regulating generation of black money, to which the real estate sector contributes the largest in the country.

Here are things home buyers need to know and how the bill speaks in favour of them –

• Timely completion of projects: the bill ensures the completion and delivery of flats on time as stringent regulations are imposed on developers for any violations of the Appellate Tribunals or monetary penalties or both.
• Carpet area to be defined: The bill defines carpet area as net usable area of an apartment which means now a home buyer will be charged only for the carpet area. This comes as a huge relief to home buyers as developers now-a-days quote on super built up area or sellable area which is nearly 30-40% more than the usable area.
• Punish developers, real estate agents: as per a provision of The Bill, imprisonment of up to three years in case of promoters and up to one year in case of real estate agents and buyers for any violation of orders of Appellate Tribunals or monetary penalties or both can be awarded. Besides, Misleading advertisements will be punishable offence where first-time offenders will be fined 10% of project cost and repeat offenders could face a jail term.
• All clearances before project launch: the Construction of a project can start only after getting statutory clearances. Prior to the launch of the project, developers will have to get all the clearances necessary to go ahead with the development.
• Part of home buyer’s money to be kept till project completion: A minimum of 70% collections from buyers should be deposited in separate escrow account to cover the cost of construction and land. The bill prohibits unaccounted money from being pumped into the sector; 70% of the money has to be deposited in bank accounts through cheques.
• Registration of projects with Regulatory Authority: The Bill provides for registration of all real estate projects with Regulatory Authorities to be set up, which will require developers to disclose project information as well as details of the promoter, project, lay-out plan, land status, status of approvals, and agreements along with details of real estate agents, contractors, architects and structural engineers.
• Developers to provide after sales services: The Bill has increased the period from 2 to 5 years for developers to be accountable for any structural defects arising within 5 years of project construction. Developers cannot change architectural plans without the consent of two-thirds of home buyers.
• Speedy redressal of complaints: Appellate Tribunals will now be required to adjudicate cases in 60 days as against the earlier provision of 90 days.
• Delays to attract interest: Both builders as well as home buyers will have to pay the same interest rate for any delays on their part.
• Insurance on land title: to benefit consumers in cases where the land titles are found to be defective, The Bill provides for an insurance of the land title.

Porperty Channel – MagicBricks Now

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Times Network is ready to launch India’s first housing and property channel known as “MagicBricks Now” and it is going on air from November 1, 2015.

On last Wednesday, officials from Times Network formally announced in New Delhi that they are ready to launch India’s first property channel “MagicBricks Now”. It is all set to go on air from November 1, 2015, and announcement was made in the presence of Union Minister of Urban Development, M Venkaiah Naidu.

According to M Venkaiah Naidu, “I am happy that now onwards there will be more focus on real estate sector and first time investors or buyers will have place to learn something in real estate sector. News and views should remain separate and it is expected that it will help to create the platform for the housing sector and it will help to tie up the government and real estate builders with an aim to create houses for all segments, to get succeed in central government’s mission “Housing for all by 2022”.

Why property channel?

In present the advertising market of real estate in India is about Rs 2,500 crore of which more than Rs 900 crore is garnered by the Times Group itself, especially in the print segment. And now by launching new channel MagicBricks Now”, the Times Group is attempting to increase the market share of real estate advertising as well as want to educate people about real estate trends and pricing factor. Faye D’Souza, the channel’s editor explained that how this new channel will focus on the end consumer with an aim to serve as a platform for the real estate development and infrastructure sector. The more he added that MagicBricks Now” will have singular focus i.e. to educate the end consumer.

How this new channel will deliver information and analysis?

This new channel will showcase rich array of programs which will range from debates to news bulletins and leadership insights to experts views and all about real estate market. These things will help the Times Group to keep the end consumer informed and on the same time to serve as a common meeting ground for experts, first time buyers, sellers, big investors, and real estate developers  who are looking for serious business in real estate sector.

MK Anand, MD and CEO of Times Network stated while explaining the positioning of the channel, “MagicBricks Now has been launched with sole ambition to guide the consumer through process and decision making process with the help of views, analysis and debate of real estate leaders and experts. In present, real estate is of paramount importance in the life of normal people and real estate market is full of jargon, confusion and complexities. “MagicBricks Now” will be first and best unbiased, trustworthy and most authoritative property channel in the Indian property market to help the consumers”.

Channel Programs:

The channel programs will include The Home Buyer’s Guide, The Vastu show, Real Estate Tycoon’s, The Property Guide, Property Hotline, The Interiors Show, of course, ‘The News’, every hour. However; the main spotlights of the channel will on the relevant issues such as; local civic amenities, national property, sustainability, and environment issues will make the channel accessible to all. The marketing campaigns for channel will be unfold post Diwali and MK Anand expects that there will be more viewership for MagicBricks Now in comparison of other English News channels. He expects the channel to reach on the break even in next 4 to 5 months.

While speaking about the association with Times Network to create new channel “MagicBricks Now” Sudhir Pai, CEO of MagicBricks.com stated that “Now onwards we will be the part of MagicBricks Now and we are delighted to be a part of this initiative. Our endeavor is to make our brand ubiquitous across media with an aim to provide real and trustworthy analysis and in-depth information to the consumers. And with this association we will leverage the visual appeal of television to communicate with end users through rich data and experts view”.

The channel will have four partners; Hiranandani, Magicbricks, Mantri and Lotus Green.

Housing Mission named after Sardar Patel

The ambitious urban housing mission to ensure housing for all by 2022 will be soon launched and will be named after Sardar Patel, said Minister of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation M. Venkaiah Naidu. The government is taking many steps to convert the vision of housing for all by 2020 to reality and to boost the affordable housing. The government will give priority status to affordable housing. Since the vision of housing for all by 2022 is to be realized, hence the government will streamline the approval process and also reduces the total cost of ownership for the end user of affordable housing on an urgent basis.

Addressing a press conference to present the vision of the central government for the country, Minister of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation M. Venkaiah Naidu said, “under the Sardar Patel Urban Housing Mission, 30 million houses will be built by 2022, mostly for the economically weaker sections and low income groups, through public-private-partnership, interest subsidy and increased flow of resources to the housing sector,” Naidu said. The minister made this announcement while speaking at the ‘World Habitat Day – Voices from Slums’ programme here

Naidu said an investment of about Rs 50 lakh crore would be required over the next few years for various initiatives such as housing for all (Rs 22.50 lakh crore), urban infrastructure development (Rs 16.50 lakh crore), urban sanitation (Rs 62,000 crore), and building smart cities. “The Government is focusing on ‘in-situ’ development of slums by encouraging vertical construction,” he added. The central government will remove major bottlenecks like land acquisitions and government clearance for the real estate sector, especially affordable housing projects. The Modi government wants everyone in the country to have a roof over head and hence no efforts will be spared to realize the dream of the development of affordable housing for all countrymen, said the minister.