36% of home buyers had to wait 5-10 years for house keys
Inordinate delays in delivery of residential projects by cash-strapped developers remain the main cause of concern for Indian home buyers as a recent poll by Magicbricks, India’s No. 1 property portal, revealed that almost 50% home buyers had to wait three years to get possession of their dream home.
What was astonishing was that around 20% of home buyers had to wait for 10 years or more for their house keys. Approximately 16% said they faced 3-5 years delay and 5-8 years delay was faced by another 16%.
To solve the issue of delay in the delivery of projects, RERA, the builders’ body and all key stakeholders are focused towards completion of stuck projects and getting them delivered. When the Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act, (RERA), came into force in 2016, the primary purpose of the law was to get projects completed through regulation of the real estate sector and to bring transparency. RERA authorities across all states are working to get stuck projects completed and delivered to buyers. However, there are many roadblocks as of now.
States like Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh have taken the conciliation mode to get all stakeholders to the discussion table to sort out differences and get the stuck projects moving. This has resulted in about 93% of projects in Maharashtra going through to resolution. Madhya Pradesh RERA authority has already disposed of 800 cases out of 1800 total cases they had received.
Recently, a Magicbricks poll also showed that 56% of buyers want to use RERA as the first port of call to file complaints. Another 23% said they would discuss directly with the developer to resolve issues. When multiple agencies such as the National Consumer Dispute Redressal Commission (NCDRC) and the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) give conflicting verdicts along with RERA, projects do not go through to resolution, even after more than a year.
“End users are the primary buyers today and thanks to long delays, most are opting to buy completed projects where the risk of delay is not theirs,” says E.Jayashree Kurup, Editor, Magicbricks.
“More than 2.5 lakh apartments in ghost towns, which are incomplete, have to be completed. Unfortunately, most of them do not have enough cash to complete the project in spite of being a part of the positive network. NAREDCO has requested the government and Niti Aayog to assist us to put in stressed asset funds immediately for the completion of these projects so that people would get their houses quickly,” says Dr Niranjan Hiranandani, President, National Real Estate Development Council (NAREDCO).
The UP government has already allocated a stress fund of Rs 2,000 crore to complete stuck projects. An approval from the Ministry of Housing at the Centre is awaited.