Punjab Real Estate Regulatory Authority(RERA) has asked the property listing platforms such as Housing.com, Magicbricks.com and 99acres.com to get themselves registered with the authority as a real estate agent, a move that will increase the compliance in the sector.
The move, if followed by regulatory bodies of other states, may lead to chaos, according to industry experts.
In their response to the authority, the property listing platforms argued that the role being played by the online housing portals is that of “intermediary” and they do not take part or carry out any property transactions.
“While the step to get everyone registered is good, the authority should also focus on one country one registration. A real estate agent, registered with any of the state RERA should be allowed to carry business in any state as government is focusing on ease of doing business,” said Harsh Bansal convenor, CII Delhi State Sub-Committee on RE, UD & Infra, and cofounder of Unity Group.
Companies impacted might go to appellate tribunal against the order as they have been directed to submit an application to the authority, for registration, within three months.
“Digital platforms like us (Housing.com) are neither real estate agents nor brokers, we are a purely tech enabled medium or advertising portal which helps sellers to list their properties and for prospective buyers to simply search and make informed buying decisions,” said Vikas Wadhawan, Group CFO, Housing.com.
“As a technologically driven open platform for all / intermediaries governed by the Information Technology Act, we strictly offer listings’ platform in order to simplify home buying, renting, and selling in India. Our involvement is purely limited to laying out the advertisements in an interactive manner, with no involvement in the deal, transaction, commission or even negotiation of the deal,” Wadhawan said.
Magicbricks and 99acres did not respond to ET’s email query till press time.
