The Maharashtra Real Estate Regulatory Authority has issued a circular being Circular No. 25 of 2019 dated 11th October, 2019 clarifying the real estate projects which are not required to be registered under the Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act, 2016 ("RERA") since in terms of the General Resolution dated 20th September, 2019 passed by the Revenue and Forest Department, Government of Maharashtra, the Agreement for Sale or Sale Deed in respect of any apartment were registered only if the project is registered or excluded from registration under RERA.

RERA excludes from its purview the following projects:

(a) where the area of land proposed to be developed does not exceed five hundred square meters or the number of apartments proposed to be developed does not exceed eight inclusive of all phases;

(b) where the promoter has received completion certificate for a real estate project prior to commencement of RERA;

(c) for the purpose of renovation or repair or re-development which does not involve marketing, advertising selling or new allotment of any apartment, plot or building, as the case may be.

In addition to the exclusions mentioned in the RERA as aforesaid, the following real estate projects have been excluded from MahaRERA Registration under the aforesaid Circular dated 11th October, 2019:

  1. In case of plotted development where the Promoter has received Non-Agricultural permission in case of such plotted development any time prior to the registration of the Agreement of Sale / Sale Deed in respect of the plot. A plotted development is where the developer only undertakes plotting scheme by obtaining necessary approvals from the concerned authority in respect of layout to the end intent of demarcating the layout into individual plots and then sell such open demarcated plots of land without any structure thereon.
  1. The Rehabilitation Component in case of redevelopment projects as the same does not involve marketing, advertising, selling or new allotment of any apartment, plot or building and also where the Promoter executes a permanent alternate accommodation agreement with existing tenants/ slum dwellers/ members of society to rehabilitate them in the new premises in lieu of their existing premises. However, the free sale component in a redevelopment project requires registration under RERA since the Promoter will undertake marketing, advertising, selling of the new apartments, units, plots.

In light of the aforesaid, the ambiguity of whether a particular real estate project is required to be registered or not has now been settled.

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