Over 500 real estate agents, small builders and those engaged in plot dealings in and around Dehradun have come together under the umbrella of Deon Real Estate Association Feeling the pinch after government notified the stringent Uttarakhand Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Rules 2017, realtors have now approached the state government seeking relief. To push for their demands, over 500 real estate agents, small builders and those engaged in plot dealings in and around Dehradun have come together under the umbrella of Deon Real Estate Association. They are seeking relaxation on certain “stringent points” added by the Uttarakhand government, which they claim have hit hard especially the smaller businessmen, agents and property dealers. The rules, notified under the Real Estate Act 2016, in April this year made it mandatory for those engaged in real estate business to register with the state’s Real Estate Regulatory Authority (RERA) with an aim at ensuring transparency and protecting the interests of the consumers in building projects or land dealings. While the Act gives powers to states to frame rules as per the geographical conditions peculiar to their region, the association members alleged that the state government had thrown in norms that were proving “detrimental” for the existence of small players in the real estate business.

Ranbir Singh Chaudhari, President, Doon Real Estate Association.

said that the registration fee for real estate agents was Rs 10,000 and for company promoters and builders Rs 50,000 in most states, while in Uttarakhand it was Rs 25,000 and Rs 2.50 lakh respectively for the two categories, at par with the fee in Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka and Haryana. “Unlike most other states, Uttarakhand has kept a high registration fee, in which we have sought relaxation…even Telangana (a state younger than Uttarakhand) has kept low registration fee,” Chaudhari claimed. Besides reduction in fee, the association has also called for simplification of norms for getting clearance for layouts from development authorities, removing responsibility of agents for verification of projects, and exemption of old plotted projects from RERA registration as done by Haryana and Uttar Pradesh. When contacted, state urban development minister Madan Kaushik said that the government was open to studying the demands depending on their merit. “I have asked the departmental officials to study the demands (of the association members) and will take a call on them soon to provide relief to them accordingly,” he told HT. Around 250 builders have got their projects registered with RERA so far. It may be recalled that the state government had given relief in penalty earlier this year to real estate builders, by slashing penalty for registration from 10% down by up to 1% of their total project cost.

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