Maharashtra: Reputed builders seek de-registration of housing projects due to govt regulations and lack of funds

In a major blow to prospective house buyers in the city of dreams, as per a Free Press Journal report, as many as, 88 housing projects from across Maharashtra have applied with the Maharashtra Real Estate Regulatory Authority (MahaRERA) to get their projects de-registered. Some of the prominent Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR) projects are from the stables of Kalpataru, Ashwin Sheth Group, Hubtown, Arihant Superstructures, and Panvelkar Group, to name a few. The reasons include unviable projects coming to a standstill, lack of funds, changes in government regulations, and internal disputes. The permission to realtors to delist was granted by MahaRERA in February.

To check if any claims or rights of any buyer are pending, the MahaRERA has put out a public notice on its portal seeking objections within 15 days. The notice was made public on Friday. If no claims are received, these 88 projects will get deregistered. The regulatory body has laid out certain conditions for realtors to scrap their projects. One such most important clause is that the project should have zero allottees or homebuyers. Deregistration will be entertained only if all the rights and claims of buyers are settled. Some of the developers have sought deregistration despite MahaRERA’s website showing a revised completion date. The revised project completion date is applied by builders themselves as per the regulatory framework.

For instance, Hubtown, formerly known as Ackruti City, has sought to get Hubtown Seasons I Wing delisted. The project is shaping up at Beggar’s Home Premises in Chembur. MahaRERA’s portal shows the proposed date of completion as December 2023, which was revised to December 2025. The builder had received the commencement certificate back in January 2016.  Kalpataru Group, too, has moved MahaRERA to remove its project at Yerwada, Pune – Kalpataru Centrino. In 2019, it received the nod to commence construction and announced completion date as December 2015. Some other Kalpataru projects, too, are stressed and homebuyers left in the lurch. Navi Mumbai-based Arihant Superstructures has sought to deregister two of its projects – Arihant Aloki Phase 3 and Arihant Aakarshan Phase 2. The former has a December 2024 completion date and the latter in December 2030.