Relief for real estate sector: Centre asks states to extend deadlines for RERA projects by 6 months

The Union government today said it will advise state governments and Union Territories to extend the timelines of of RERA projects by six months in order to provide some relief to the real estate sector.

Addressing a press conference today, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said the government has decided to extend the registration and completion dates of real estate projects under RERA.

She said due to the adverse impact of the Covid-19 pandemic and the nationwide lockdown, real estate projects stand the risk of defaulting on RERA timelines.

“Timelines need to be extended. The Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs will advise states/UTs and their regulatory authorities to treat Covid-19 as an event of ‘Force Majeure’ (Act of God) under RERA,” Nirmala Sitharaman said.

She said the states and UTs will be advised to extend the registration and completion date suo-moto by six months for all registered projects expiring on or after March 25, 2020 without individual applications.

“Regulatory authorities may extend this for another period of upto three months, if needed,” she said.

Nirmala Sitharaman said the authorities are free to issue fresh ‘Project Registration Certificates’ automatically with revised timelines. They can also extend timelines for various statuary compliances under RERA concurrently, she said.

The minister said, “These measures will de-stress real estate developers and ensure completion of projects so that homebuyers are able to get delivery of their booked houses with new timelines.”

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