By Staff Reporter
The Maharashtra Real Estate Regulatory Agency (MahaRERA) has introduced a new measure to enhance transparency and curb fraudulent practices in the real estate sector. Going forward, MahaRERA will only accept regulatory clearance certificates, such as commencement and occupancy certificates, if they are sent from the official email IDs of municipal corporations.
This decision comes in response to recent incidents where developers submitted fake certificates directly to MahaRERA while seeking project registration. In an effort to combat this issue, MahaRERA has sent a letter to all builders, informing them of the new requirement.
To obtain MahaRERA registration for their projects, builders are required to submit all necessary regulatory clearance certificates to the agency. However, it was discovered that developers under the Kalyan-Dombivli Municipal Corporation (KDMC) jurisdiction had submitted bogus documents to secure project registration. To address this issue across the state, MahaRERA sought directions from the Urban Development department, urging municipal corporations to develop official websites where these documents can be submitted securely.
While only the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) currently has such a mechanism in place, MahaRERA has taken proactive measures by establishing a dedicated email ID to receive clearance certificates. The agency will now accept documents sent by municipal corporations solely through their official email IDs to ensure authenticity and prevent fraudulent submissions.
As of the present, there are 250 real estate projects whose registrations are pending due to incomplete documentation. Realtors have welcomed the move, acknowledging its potential to bring in transparency. However, they also emphasize the importance of municipal corporations swiftly sending the required documents to MahaRERA to prevent further delays in the registration process.
In a related development, MahaRERA has successfully collected penalties amounting to Rs 11.85 lakh from developers for failing to publish or disclose registration numbers during the advertisement of projects. According to MahaRERA guidelines, real estate projects with more than eight inventories or exceeding 500 sqm of area are required to display the MahaRERA registration number in their advertisements. Notices were issued to 197 developers across the state, and 90 developers have paid penalties ranging from Rs 10,000 to Rs 1.5 lakh. Among these, 52 developers are from Mumbai, 34 from Pune, and four from Nagpur.
The implementation of email verification for housing project certificates is a significant step taken by MahaRERA to uphold transparency, protect homebuyers’ interests, and maintain the integrity of the real estate market in Maharashtra.