Odisha Real Estate builders rue delay in apartment registrations 

The Apartment (Ownership and Management) Rules were amended bringing joy to small apartment buyers as the homebuyers have to pay less toward maintenance fees for common areas. 

However, as registration of apartments is yet to kick off, builders are a worried lot with investments worth over Rs 10,000 crore stuck in real estate projects. 

The bylaws of the association of the allottees or apartment owners among others have been modified. The modified rules are aimed at regulating the use of common areas in the apartments and a common fund will be raised to meet the common expenses of the same.

The amount of maintenance fees will be determined as per the sizes of the apartments. The bigger the apartment, the more the maintenance fee.

 
In the Odisha Apartment (Ownership and Management) Rules-2023, there was the provision of a uniform maintenance fee for apartment buyers irrespective of their sizes.  Recently, the Housing and Urban Development Department amended two clauses.    

Before the Apartment (Ownership and Management) Rules were implemented, some builders constructed several apartments with one common area. It was difficult to split the common area for several apartments. Keeping this problem in view, the rules were amended and only one association has been mandated for all the projects. 

Besides, the family in the Apartment (Ownership and Management) Rules was defined. The family here means a couple and their dependent children. If one of the earning members of a family buys a home in the same project, he/she will have voting rights. 

Bimalendu Pradhan, a real estate activist, said, “It was a five-year struggle for us. We have been fighting for ownership of the common areas. We are paying for the common areas and we want ownership of the common areas. The modification in the rules has been done in the larger interests of the home buyers.  We welcome the step.”   

On the other hand, though 15 days have passed since the Apartment (Ownership and Management) Rules-2024 was notified, apartment registration has not started.  The necessary infrastructure is not ready due to a lack of competent authority which is supposed to give approval to the formation of associations for apartments.   

As the apartment registration is getting delayed, members of the Confederation of Real Estate Developers' Associations of India (CREDAI, the apex body of private Real Estate developers in India), are worried about the blocked investments. It is alleged that as apartment registrations have been halted for over a year and a half, investments worth Rs 10,000 are stuck. 

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Moreover, no new investments are coming into real estate. Hence the CREDAI has demanded immediate provision of infrastructure for the competent authority so that apartment registration would start soon. 

DS Tripathy, Chairperson of CREDAI, Odisha said, “Rs 10,000 crore investment in real estate is blocked. It will take time to streamline. This sector is suffering because of a lack of registration. We formed the competent authority, but we have to look at how much infrastructure has been made available to the authority to expedite the process of approvals.”