Rajya Sabha passed the Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Bill (Real Estate Bill) on March 10, 2016. Ministry of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation, Government of India, has been given the task of formulating a legislation for the regulation and further development of the real estate sector in India. The Real Estate Bill was introduces in the year 2013 after several rounds of consultations with consumer and developer bodies, State governments and other stakeholders.

Seth Dua & Associates (SDA) has been associated with the Real Estate Bill even before the bill was conceptualised. In recognition of SDA’s domain knowledge and industry expertise, it was retained by the Housing Ministry to advise and assist in relation to drafting a legislative framework for the real estate sector. In 2011, SDA provided detailed advice to the Housing Ministry on various constitutional law and administrative law issues relating to the real estate sector and provided a legal opinion on the possibility of a central legislation for the real estate sector instead of a model state law (as originally proposed).

The opinion provided by SDA was sent to the Ministry of Law and Justice and the Attorney General of India for their views on the viability of a central legislation regulating the real estate sector. SDA’s legal opinion was confirmed and approved by both the Ministry of Law and Justice and the Attorney General of India.

Thereafter, the task of drafting the central legislation was also assigned to SDA by the Housing Ministry. SDA drafted the ‘Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Bill, 2011’ in a short time. The bill drafted by SDA was approved by the Housing Ministry, Ministry of Law and Justice and the Cabinet which led to the introduction of the bill before the Parliament.

The Real Estate Bill regulates transactions between buyers and promoters of residential real estate projects. The Real Estate Bill provides for establishment of State level Real Estate Regulatory Authorities (RERAs) and the Real Estate Appellate Tribunals, which has been constituted as the appellate authority.

In terms of the Real Estate Bill, a project intended to be developed on an immovable property is required to be registered with RERAs. Residential real estate projects can be offered for sale by the promoters only upon receiving the approval of RERA and certificate of registration. In this regard, the Real Estate Bill inter alia provides that each phase of a project shall be considered as a single entity and would require to be registered.