Maharashtra real estate body directs Self-Regulatory Organisations to replace representatives with two years’ tenure 

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The Maharashtra Real Estate Regulatory Authority (MahaRERA) has mandated all Self-Regulatory Organisations (SROs) to replace their representatives in MahaRERA who have held office for more than two years. This directive, effective immediately, aims to prevent potential conflicts of interest.

MahaRERA has also emphasised that representatives assisting in housing project registrations must possess domain expertise in at least one of three critical areas: legal, financial, or technical. This requirement is essential to ensure seamless and efficient project registration.

In a formal communication to the seven recognised SROs - NAREDCO (National Real Estate Development Council) West Foundation, CREDAI (Confederation of Real Estate Developers' Associations of India)-MCHI (Maharashtra Chamber of Housing Industry), CREDAI Maharashtra, Builders Association of India, Marathi Bandhkam Vyavsayik Association, Brihanmumbai Developer Association, and CREDAI-Pune - MahaRERA instructed that representatives who have completed two years must be replaced immediately.

Role of SROs in MahaRERA Registrations
As per the Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act, 2016, all housing projects in Maharashtra must be registered with MahaRERA before advertising, promoting, or selling. MahaRERA thoroughly evaluates projects on legal, financial, and technical grounds before issuing registration numbers.

SRO representatives serve as intermediaries between MahaRERA and member developers during the registration process. Their responsibilities include addressing observations raised during scrutiny and guiding member developers to meet compliance requirements.

To streamline this process, MahaRERA has stipulated that SRO representatives must have expertise in one of the key domains and operate on a rotational basis. This ensures that all representatives can effectively support developers and facilitate timely registration.

MahaRERA Chairman Manoj Saunik highlighted the importance of the decision, stating: "While registering a new housing project with MahaRERA, the project promoters expect a seamless experience and support from the SROs. The developers are also members of the SROs. By having SROs, MahaRERA has ensured them to officially be the link and do away with Agents or other intermediaries. However, due to lack of subject matter experts, this objective remains unachieved. Therefore, MahaRERA has taken the crucial decision with regards to the SROs representatives to enable registration of new housing projects as per the expectations and consistency."

He further stressed the importance of having subject matter experts: "The real estate projects are subjected to strict legal, financial and technical scrutiny while issuing a registration number by MahaRERA. This is possible only when the representatives of the SROs are experts in each of these domains and would be able to help their respective members. Therefore, the representatives being subject matter experts is a must. Moreover, MahaRERA has also set a tenure of the representatives to a maximum of two years."

The decision aims to enhance the efficiency of MahaRERA registrations and provide accurate guidance to developers. MahaRERA expects active cooperation from all stakeholders to achieve this goal, ensuring new housing projects are registered promptly and in compliance with regulatory standards.