Mysuru: Every builder, promoter, real estate agent and Co-operative Society must mandatorily register with the Real Estate Regulatory Authority (RERA), said RERA Interim Authority Kapil Mohan.

He was speaking at the ‘RERA Workshop Live’ jointly organised by RERA, District Administration and Confederation of Real Estate Developers’ Associations of India (CREDAI), to sensitise promoters, real estate agents and others, at the Abdul Nazir Sab Hall in the Zilla Panchayat office premises this morning.

The Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act, formulated by the Central Government, was rolled out in the State last year. RERA aims to bring transparency and accountability into ongoing projects.

Under RERA, activities like plan deviation, construction without clearances, selling of property not registered with RERA, construction delays, pre-launch offers, collecting huge payments from buyers before starting construction, or diverting money from one project to another are punishable offences, he said.

In all, 2,000 projects have been registered in the State so far, out of which 109 have been registered in Mysuru. Approval has been given to 442 projects and 48 projects have been rejected. A help-desk has also been set up to ask for any clarifications by the buyers and builders alike and the RERA officials will clear all the doubts, he said and added that the transparency, accountability and exact status can be maintained.

If the builders of the ongoing projects do not register then they will be imposed a fine of 10 percent and even criminal cases will be filed against them, he warned.

With regard to sale agreements, super built up area and carpet area, seeking plan approvals, their delay and rejection, the status can all be viewed on the web portal www.rera.kar nataka.gov, he said.

The main aim of this Act is to see that property buyers who often fall victims to unscrupulous real estate developers are not cheated. The transparency in the Act will also help the promoters of real estate and others so that they are not harassed besides helping the Authority to see that there is no tax evasion, said Kapil Mohan.

“The Government of Karnataka notified Karnataka Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Rules-2017 in the State Gazette on July 11, 2017 and following this Karnataka Real Estate Regulatory Authority (RERA) has been set up. We have also come up with a web-portal for registration of projects and agents as well as to file any complaints. Since the launch of the portal, many promoters and agents have submitted their registration requests and paid online,” he said.

One of the questions that is asked frequently is, do Housing Cooperative Societies come under this Act and an emphatic answer is even such societies come under RERA and they all have to register. Also, every builder and land owner must pay taxes based on the guidance value of the property or land under the Act, he said.

RERA Secretary P. Sunil Kumar also spoke. Deputy Commissioner D. Randeep, Additional DC T. Yogesh, MUDA Commissioner P.S. Kantharaj, MCC Commissioner G. Jagadeesha, RERA Under Secretary Shanthala and Assistant Executive Engineer K.G. Sathyanarayana, CREDAI Chairman Chinnaswamy, Muralidhar, K. Palaksha, Subramanyam and others were present.

Nearly 100 people from Builders Association of India, real estate agents, bank officers, Chartered Accountants, Town Planning Officers, officials from the MCC and MUDA participated in the workshop.