The Maharashtra legislative assembly has cleared the Housing (Regulation and Development) Bill, 2012 which aims at regulating and promoting the construction, sale, management and transfer of flats on ownership basis. The new bill also aims at establishing the Housing Regulatory Authority and Housing Appellate Tribunal. According to the law, registering the housing project and displaying it on the website of the Housing Regulatory Authority will now become mandatory.

Replying to a debate on the Bill, Minister of State for Housing Sachin Ahir said that the promoters will be given a registration code and they can sell their flats only after completing the registration process on the website. The promoter will be responsible for repairing the defects and faults in the building constructed till five years of the flats being handed over to the the owners. The Housing Appellate Tribunal will hear the appeals and give decision in three months, which can be challenged only in the high court. In case of a promoter violating the provisions of the new law, he will be liable for a fine of Rs 10 lakh and jail term of three years.

Terming the new law a 'game changer' in regulating the housing sector, Sachin Ahir said that the new law aims at empowerment of flat owners.