City developers whose projects are nearing completion have rushed to the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) to obtain occupancy certificates (OC) so that their projects do not fall under the ambit of new Real Estate Regulatory Authority (RERA) Act that came into effect from May 1, 2017. Since the Act came into effect in May 2017, the BMC has received a total of 147 applications.

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Over the course of the 2016-17 financial year, the civic body had received a total of 198 applications seeking OC. If builders manage to get an OC for their projects within three months, the projects will fall under the ambit of the Maharashtra Ownership of Flats Act, rather than RERA.

As per the Act, all the ongoing projects have to register under RERA if the projects have not obtained the OC. Though the Act had already come into affect on May 1, 2017, developers were allowed three months, ending July 31, to obtain OC for their completed projects.

In April, May and June, the BMC received a total of 208 applications seeking OC. Of the total 208 applications, 147 were received after the RERA came into affect. “We have received a total  of 146 applications that sought OC since the RERA  came into effect,” said an official from the building proposals department of BMC.

He added, “After RERA, we have been witnessing more applications from developers whose projects are nearing completion.” Of the total 208 applications received since April 1, 2017, the most applications, 91, were received in June, while in April and May, the civic body received 62 and 55 applications respectively.

However, of the total 208 applications the civic body received, 109 applications have been approved while 61 applications were rejected on various grounds. In addition, there are 37 applications currently under process.

In addition, the average time for approving or rejecting a proposal has also improved during this fiscal. During 2016-17, the average time for approving a proposal was 7.05 days.

...& ANALYSIS

  • At a time when builders are in a hurry to get occupation certificates, it is important to make sure that all criteria and norms for external and internal development works are met  
  • Mandatory stipulations like provision of access roads, water supply, sewage and drainage systems among others should not be neglected by the civic body and project details should be thoroughly checked