100 real estate brokers to register with RERA in Mumbai
Around 100 real estate agents and brokers have registered themselves with the Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act, (RERA) authority since it came into effect nine days ago. Another 1000 brokers are in queue, and are all set to register themselves by paying a fee of Rs10,000 to RERA. Real estate brokers in the city have acknowledged that establishing RERA was good move. “There is lot of excitement as now only serious players will be in the market. This will attract many good people in this profession and weed out the ones who brought bad name to our fraternity,” said Prakkash Rohiira, director of Karma Realtors, a leading brokerage firm. The Act states that no broker without a RERA certification will be allowed to market any project. The builders will also have to register the brokers who will market their project. To keep a check on malpractices,the Act also states that brokers will be penalized 5% of the project costs in case of misrepresentation of project facts. According to Tribhuvan Mishra, a homebuyer, brokers would make lofty promises to attract buyers. “We have dealt with brokers, and our experience was not very pleasant. They portray a different picture from the actual reality,” said Mishra. For years, realty brokering was an unorganised sector as many vendors like watchmen or carpenters doubled up as brokers, and gave unrealistic claims to sell the product. However, several brokers have their own objections to the RERA act, stating that their genuine concerns were not addressed. Vikram Mehta, president, Confederation of Real Estate Brokers of India (CREBAI), rued that RERA was being unfair to them. “RERA has been silent on penalties to be imposed on builders and buyers who default on our brokerages,” said Mehta. Echoing his views, Rohiira said that there is no penal clause for builders who mislead brokers. “There is a likelihood that builders misguide us to sell their product, and we will have to pay the buyers for no fault of ours,” said Rohiira.
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