The Real Estate Regulatory Authority (Rera) of the state has said it will relax delivery timelines and other norms for builders for the time being because of the effect of the coronavirus pandemic on the overall economy.
The move follows an appeal from a body of developers that they be granted relief on timelines as well refunds and penalties.
Though Rera officials confirmed builders would be granted relief, the details of the relaxation would only be available when the authority starts functioning.
“We have received a letter from Naredco and gone through the demands of the builders. Given the realities of the current situation, valid considerations would be made. However, the exact nature of these benefits would only be revealed when we start functioning,” said Balwinder Kumar, a UP-Rera member.
Naredco-UP, a body of realtors, wrote to Rera on Monday that it couldn’t honour the timelines set by the regulatory body as work on all projects have been stalled in the aftermath of the lockdown. It asked for a fresh set of timelines.
“Besides relaxing the timeline and refund norms, we have also proposed that builders are not asked to submit quarterly progress reports along with photos and videos of their projects. Usually, this is done by March 31. There is no way builders can follow these norms in the current situation. All such compliances should be deferred at least by a few months,” said RK Arora, the president of Naredco-UP.
The developers have also sought relaxations in registration of projects. They have requested UP-Rera for amnesty to unfreeze escrow accounts for the time being. The regulatory body had frozen the accounts of many developers for not complying with orders and timelines.
