Over 3 Lakh Aggrieved Homebuyers Await UP Housing Regulator

Home seekers across the country have been batting for a buyer-friendly Real Estate (Regulation & Development) Act, 2016, rules and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has assured that he will ensure the Real Estate Regulatory Authority that will come into force will be in the same spirit as the Centre had previously declared.

The real estate in a state that possibly holds the largest number of potential homebuyers, unsold stock, and availability of projects in various budget segments has been hindered only due to the uncertainty in the market. As homebuyers look for a direction and assurance from the authorities, hopefully, the Real Estate Law will usher in a new regime of investment in property.

Previously, UP had notified RERA rules but that had met opposition from the homebuyers who had appealed to the new CM to revoke it on grounds that the rules were not in the spirit of the authority. The Noida Extension Flat Owners Welfare Association (NEFOWA) and another association called Fight For RERA had already communicated their opinions to the CM. They demanded the following:

• Audit of the Noida and Greater Noida authorities

• Removal of all senior and junior officials of these authorities who have been suspected of being developer inclined

• Urge developers to expedite building constructions following the UP-Apartment Act

• Offer compensation to aggrieved home buyers

Therefore, wait for the conclusive state regulatory housing authority gets longer.

Residential property market in UP

Ghaziabad, Lucknow, Noida, and Greater Noida, among others contribute much to the share of home-buyer inquiries in the state. Not only do they help branch out housing demand from the state, they also help prospective home buyers from Delhi by giving them an affordable market to enter.

Commercial market, too, encourages a lot of homebuyer and tenant crowd to consider these micro-markets. For example, by 2016, 9.2 per cent of new companies were registered in UP. This is higher than what Karnataka or Tamil Nadu registered in the same period. Six years back, it stood at 4.5 per cent only as per data available with Ministry of Corporate Affairs. Real estate, construction and IT happen to be the most interested when it comes to investment in UP. This also helped generate a considerable amount of housing demand.  Intex, Ducati, Oppo, Amazon, and Infosys are some of the names.

Refer the table to understand the market dynamics in UP's residential micro markets.

 Latest developments

• Building plans of 17 projects of six developers have been scrapped by the Greater Noida Authority as these had not been approved.

• Terse warnings have been given to all in the UP cabinet to declare their immovable assets.

• The state government has set up an anti-land mafia task force has been formed. Encroachers, land grabbers, illegal construction on government land or construction of places of worship on the unauthorised land will be checked.

• Metro network from Noida Sector 71 to Greater Noida Knowledge Park V could be operational by 2021 while the Noida-Greater Noida Metro line is to be operational in 2018.

• Greater Noida Authority also conducted a meeting over the property rates across the region to consider a revision in prices. As per officials, the outcome of the meeting is being considered.

• As per reports, over one lakh homebuyers in Noida and over 3.5 lakh homebuyers in Greater Noida are awaiting the regulatory body which would miss the May-1 deadline.