The Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act, 2016 is an Act of the Parliament of India which seeks to protect home-buyers as well as help boost investments in the real estate industry. The Act came into force from 1 May 2016.

The Purpose of this Act is:

• To establish the Real Estate Regulatory Authority for regulation and promotion of the Real Estate sector.
• To ensure transparency in projects.
• To protect the interest of consumers in the Real Estate Sector and to establish an adjudicating mechanism for speedy dispute redressal.
• To provide proper information about the Builder.
• Provide recommendations to appropriate Government on in matters relating to the development & promotion of real estate sector;

The Salient Features of this Act are:

• It establishes the State Real Estate Regulatory Authority as the government body to be approached for redressal of grievances against any builder.
• This law vests authority on the real estate regulator to govern both residential and commercial real estate transactions.
• This law makes it mandatory for developers to post all information on issues such as project plan, layout, government approvals, land title status, sub-contractors to the project, schedule for completion with the State Real Estate Regulatory Authority (RERA) and then in effect pass this information on to the consumers.
• The maximum jail term for a developer who violates the order of the appellate tribunal of the RERA is three years with or without a fine.
• Currently, if a project is delayed, then the developer does not suffer in any way. Now, the law ensures that any delay in project completion will make the developer liable to pay the same interest as the EMI being paid by the consumer to the bank back to the consumer
• The developer cannot make any changes to the plan that had been sold without the written consent of the buyer.
• Every project measuring more than 500 square metres or more than eight apartments will have to be registered with the RERA.