The first version of the bill was rejected by the Rajya Sabha last year.
The Real Estate Bill, which aims at protecting home buyers from developers who fail to deliver on time, moved closer to becoming law today as it was cleared in the Rajya Sabha, where the government is in a minority.
Here are the 10 latest developments in this story:
Once cleared by the Lok Sabha, where the government enjoys a comfortable majority, the Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Bill will become law.
The government had fast-tracked the proposal based on the renewed interest shown by the Congress, the main opposition party, in getting the bill cleared in Parliament.
Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi had told concerned home buyers that his party will support the bill.
The bill was first introduced in 2013, when the Congress-led UPA was in power. The version that the government submitted for discussion included as many as 20 amendments or changes, based on the feedback of a parliamentary committee. The first version of the bill was rejected by the Rajya Sabha last year.
Last week, the Congress wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi asking for the bill to be prioritized in this session of Parliament.
The bill makes it mandatory for residential and commercial projects to be registered with a real estate regulator which will monitor transactions and settle disputes. In recent years, several projects have been delayed, leaving home buyers in the lurch with no protection.
The new proposal covers a larger number of projects for registration -any project that includes eight flats or 500 square.
If the developer fails to hand-over the property to the buyer on time, then he would be liable to pay same amount as interest which he is charging from the buyer on delay in payment.
Builders will have to deposit at least 70% of money collected from buyers during pre- sales, including land cost, in an escrow account to meet construction costs, compared with the earlier proposal for 50%. This is to ensure that developers who run out of cash don't stall projects. Builders would have to pay interest to home buyers for any default or delays at the same rate they charge them.
Builders will be liable for structural defects for five years, instead of two years as proposed earlier. They will also have to pay interest to home buyers on delays at the same rate that customers would be charged if they defaulted on payments.
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