22% consumers happy with grievance redressal system

Around 70 per cent of consumers are aware of realty law RERA and five out of six homebuyers seek grievances redressal through this legislation, according to a survey by Omidyar Network India (ONI) and Boston Consulting Group (BCG).

However, the report pointed out that the implementation of the grievance redressal process still has many gaps as "only 22 per cent of the consumers involved in a grievance redressal mechanism were satisfied due to the uncertain timelines involved".

The Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Actwas passed by Parliament in March 2016. The ONI and BCG launched a survey report - 'Five Years On: An assessment of RERA - The Road Ahead for a Stronger On-ground Regime' that gauges its impact on the crucial realty sector since its enactment.

The report is based on the interactions with over 1,300 customers, developers, regulatory authorities, and relevant stakeholders like chartered accountants, engineers, and architects from Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Orissa, and Karnataka.

The survey found out that the law has created an implicit trust in homebuyers because of the usage of RERA registration of properties as a marketing tool and creation of escrow account for each projects to park customers' advances to build projects. According to stakeholder perspectives, RERA has been effective in increasing consumer confidence and greater accountability. However, the report suggested that RERA is limited to main benefits. About 76 per cent of consumers who were aware of RERA only plan to buy RERA-registered properties.

Among developers, 64 per cent of those surveyed were highly satisfied with the RERA authority. 77 per cent of all eligible projects have been registered under RERA.The report said that 55 per cent of developers surveyed were also able to secure loans more easily due to RERA.

However, the ONI and BCG survey pointed out that there is a lot of work to be done to streamline the understanding of the provisions of RERA, increase stakeholder confidence through even greater transparency and improve the grievance redressal process.

"Almost 30 per cent of consumers surveyed were still unaware of RERA's role as a regulator. 1 in 2 (50 per cent) consumers reported being aware of just two benefits of the Act -the mandatory registration of the relevant projects and RERA as a grievance redressal forum," it said.

Only 14 per cent of all potential homebuyers have visited their relevant RERA website, and 24 per cent of these consumers said that they were satisfied with the online experience "45 per cent of all developers surveyed reported dissatisfaction with the RERA website," it said.