RERA-Registration Of Retirement Homes Is Now Mandatory

As more and more real estate developers are entering the senior living segment to exploit the opportunity provided by this buyer category, the government on March 6 has issued model guidelines for building retirement homes in order to protect their rights and address their special needs.

From approximately 7.6 crore in 2001, the number of senior citizens in India increased to 10.4 crore in 2011, a government statement said. This number was expected to grow to 17.3 crore by 2025 and about 24 crore by 2050, it added. Senior citizens are projected to form nearly 34 per cent of the country’s population by the end of the century.

This has led to more and more realtors entering this housing space.

What happens now?

Under the new norms, here is what real estate developers building retirement homes will have to do.

Codes: Retirement homes should be aligned with guidelines prescribed in the National Building Code (NBC) , the Model Building Bye Laws and the Harmonized Guidelines and Space Standards for Barrier-Free Built Environment for persons with disability and elderly persons. Developers will also have to follow green norms while building such projects.

Building & management: Under the new rules, real estate developers can build and manage retirement homes or engage a service provider or retirement home operator to manage these homes. Such service providers will be required to be registered with appropriate state authorities.

Tri-partite agreement: In case the developer has hired a service provide to build and manage such a project, he will have to enter into a tri-partite agreement, involving himself, the service provider and the buyer. At the time of executing the agreement to sale, the service provider will have to disclose its technical skills in managing such facilities.

Facilities: Builders will also have to provide common basic services such as 24X7 water and electricity supply, maintenance of hygiene, indoor and outdoor recreation facilities, security and housekeeping, single-window facilities and helpdesk, transportation assistance, yoga and fitness facilities, care centres, etc.

Among the other facilities that developers will have to offer in such projects are lifts with audio and visual signage and signalling systems, wheel-chairs, ramps, design that enable barrier-free movement, anti-skid tiles in bathrooms and stairs, elderly-friendly design of door-knobs, hand rails, furniture, kitchens with gas-leak detection systems, emergency alarm systems, etc.

For better medical care, the developer will have to keep provisions of basic medical, like 24x7 on-site ambulance service, a medical emergency room and trained and skilled security personnel. It will also have to tie up with the nearest hospitals and pharmacies. Developers will also have to provide internal and external housekeeping (verification of the staff must) , dining services management, assistance with legal services, etc.

RERA registration: Retirement homes can only be sold after these are registered under the Real Estate (Regulation & Development) Act of the states concerned.

FAR better: To ensure better participation by developer, the government has proposed to offer enhanced floor area ratio (FAR) for such projects, without providing any specific numbers.

The housing ministry will constitute a task force to ensure effective implementation of these guidelines.

Who can buy?

Anyone can buy such apartment, but the unit must be used by a senior citizen, who is 60 years of age or above.