MahaRERA cracks down on over 600 projects for violating advertising guidelines

The Maharashtra Real Estate Regulatory Authority MahaRERA has taken suo motu action against 628 housing projects across the state for not displaying registration numbers as well as QR codes in the advertising materials Collectively these 628 projects have been penalised Rs 8890 lakh of which Rs 7235 lakh has been recovered so farOf the 628 housing projects 312 are from the Mumbai region 250 are from the Pune region and 66 are from the Nagpur regionThe Mumbai region includes Mumbai Mumbai Suburban Thane Nashik and Konkan These 312 projects faced penalties totalling to Rs 5425 lakh of which Rs 4150 lakh has been recoveredSimilarly the Pune region covers Pune city western Maharashtra and Marathwada Here action has been initiated against 250 projects with the consolidated penalty amount levied at Rs 2830 lakh and Rs 2475 lakh already recoveredThere were 66 projects in the Nagpur region comprising all the districts of Vidarbha A total of Rs 635 lakh penalty was imposed on the violators and Rs 610 lakh has been recovered so farTo keep onersquos investment secured MahaRERA appeals to homebuyers not to engage in transactions with housing projects without the mandatory RERA registration numberASCI assist in monitoring violatorsFor effective implementation of guidelines and to identify violators MahaRERA takes assistance from the Advertising Standards Council of India ASCI Advertisements are no longer limited to the traditional medium It is crucial to keep a check on the newage formats as well The collaboration with ASCI aims at expanding the horizons and identifying such violators in the newage media as well as it is backed by artificial intelligence Thus far the collaboration has helped in zeroing in on the violators in newspapers websites online video streaming channels and social media Surprisingly what has come to light is that the rate of violation is significantly higher on social media as compared to the traditional formats of advertisementsMandatory MahaRERA registrationAs per the Real Estate Regulation and Development Act it is binding for any project in Maharashtra that exceeds 500 square meters or involves more than eight apartments including plots to be registered with MahaRERA No marketing activities or sales in such housing projects are permitted without securing a registration number from the MahaRERA Moreover starting August 1 2023 it has become mandatory for the developers to provide detailed information pertaining to the project such as the projectrsquos name developerrsquos name renewal of projectrsquos registration expected date of completion registration status pending complaints pending litigations any recovery warrants issued among others A simple scan of the projectrsquos QR code should disclose all the information related to the project Despite making it mandatory to print the Registration number and QR code in all publicity materials it was observed that some developers continue to disregard the guidelines Hence MahaRERA initiated suo motu action against such violators and also served them showcause noticesMahaRERA chairman speaksldquoPromoters of housing projects are not permitted to advertise their projects without a MahaRERA registration number Starting August 1 2023 it is also mandatory to display a QR code with every advertisement This enables homebuyers to access projectrelated important information Despite this some developers are violating these guidelines Therefore MahaRERA is always on the lookout for such advertisements and regularly initiates action against the violatorsrdquo Ajoy Mehta Chairman MahaRERAldquoHaving MahaRERA registration number is synonymous with secure investment in real estate as it instils a sense of trust among flat purchasers Post QR code success in Maharashtra housing regulatory authorities in other states have also made it mandatoryrdquo Mehta addedldquoMahaRERArsquos commitment to maintaining the trust continues and will not tolerate marketing content without a registration number as well as a QR code MahaRERA will continue taking punitive action against the violatorsrdquo he concluded