After witnessing a lukewarm response from the builders to get them registered under the Real Estate Regulatory Authority (RERA), the Punjab government has asked them to come forward till 31 July to avoid any kind of hindrance in their business.

It has been made clear to the builders that they will have to face penalty after 31 July, the deadline for the registration under RERA act. As per the information available with the office of RERA, only six promoters of various projects and three real estate agents in the state have applied for registration so far.

The registration is mandatory to carry out real estate business in the state as per the new law. “With the last date for registration is approaching, we are expecting a large number of applications from builders and promoters to be registered. Till date only nine promoters of various projects in the state and three real estate agents have applied to the registering authority (RERA) for registration,” said Additional Chief Secretary, Housing and Urban Development, Vini Mahajan. She further said, the applications received along with required documents and fees are being processed before issuing a registration certificate to the applicant promoters and estate agents.

Mahajan, who is heading RERA in Punjab, while impressing upon the need for registering under the Act, revealed that Section 3(1) of the Act mandated that no promoter could advertise, market, book, sell or offer for sale or invite intending buyers to purchase any plot or apartment or building in a real estate project without registering the project with the Real Estate Authority established under the new law.

With the notification of Real Estate (Development and Regulation) Rules 2017, office of the RERA has started receiving applications from Promoters and Estate Agents for registration under the new law. Besides, Section 9(1) of the Act provides that no real estate agent shall facilitate the sale or purchase of any plot, apartment or building, in a real estate project registered under Section 3, without obtaining registration from RERA.

Also, the projects which are ongoing on the date of commencement of this Act and for which the completion certificate has not been obtained, are required to be registered with RERA within a period of three months from the date of commencement of the Act, which is till 31 July.