Brief Background of the Real Estate Act, 2016:

The Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Bill was passed by the Rajya Sabha on 10th March, 2016 and by the Lok Sabha on 15th March, 2016. The Bill as passed by the Parliament was assented to by the Hon’ble President on 25th March, 2016. The Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act, 2016 was published in the Official Gazette on 26th March, 2016 for general information. Copy of the Act is available on the website of the Ministry of HUPA at the following link - http://mhupa.gov.in/writereaddata/Real_Estate_Act_2016.pdf

The Real Estate Act, 2016 aims at protecting the rights and interests of consumers and promotion of uniformity and standardization of business practices and transactions in the real estate sector. It attempts to balance the interests of consumers and promoters by imposing certain responsibilities on both. It seeks to establish symmetry of information between the promoter and purchaser, transparency of contractual conditions, set minimum standards of accountability and a fast-track dispute resolution mechanism.

Brief Background of the Draft (Agreement for Sale) Rules under the Real Estate Act, 2016:

Specified sections of the Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act, 2016 have come into effect from 1st May, 2016, including section 84(2)(h) of the Act which provides that ‘the appropriate Government shall notify, within a period of six months of the commencement of this Act (i.e. by 31st October, 2016), rules towards the form and particulars of agreement for sale specified under section 13(2)’ i.e. by 31st October, 2016. As per section 2(g)(i) of the Act, the Ministry of Housing & Urban Poverty Alleviation is the appropriate Government for Union Territories without Legislature.

In this regard, the Ministry has prepared the Draft ‘Union Territories without Legislature (Agreement for Sale) Rules, 2016’ on which the Ministry proposes to elicit general comments through the open forum for discussion on the MyGov portal.