Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act 2016, RERA has become a key factor in the real estate industry today. RERA covers a wide range of regularities of the real estate sector, from the launch of a project to post-sales issues of apartments, plots, offices, shops, and other such properties. Therefore, being a civil engineer it becomes your primary responsibility to know and understand what RERA is all about and to plan and implement the entire work in such a way, so as to comply with the provisions of RERA.
The first step towards understanding any Act is to understand the key terms or the glossary of that particular Act, therefore, in this blog, we are showing a list of RERA Glossary / RERA Terminologies, for our readers.
“Advertisement” means any document described or issued as advertisement through any medium and includes any notice, circular or other documents or publicity in any form, informing persons about a real estate project, or offering for sale of a plot, building or apartment or inviting persons to purchase in any manner such plot, building or apartment or to make advances or deposits for such purposes.
“Agreement for Sale” means an agreement entered into between the promoter and the allottee.
“Allottee” in relation to a real estate project, means the person to whom a plot, apartment or building, as the case may be, has been allotted, sold (whether as freehold or leasehold) or otherwise transferred by the promoter, and includes the person who subsequently acquires the said allotment through sale, transfer or otherwise but does not include a person to whom such plot, apartment or building, as the case may be, is given on rent.
“Apartment” whether called block, chamber, dwelling unit, flat, office, showroom, shop, godown, premises, suit, tenement, unit or by any other name, means a separate and self-contained part of any immovable property, including one or more rooms or enclosed spaces, located on one or more floors or any part thereof, in a building or on a plot of land, used or intended to be used for any residential or commercial use such as residence, office, shop, showroom or godown or for carrying on any business, occupation, profession or trade, or for any other type of use ancillary to the purpose specified.
“Appellate Tribunal” means the Real Estate Appellate Tribunal established under section 43.
An Appellate Tribunal is a legal body set up by the government for speedy dispute redressal. It will hear appeals from the decisions, directions or orders of the Real Estate Regulatory Authority.
“Authority” means the Real Estate Regulatory Authority established under sub-section (1) of section 20.
“Building” Any structure or erection or part of a structure or erection which is intended to be used for residential, commercial or for the purpose of any business, occupation, profession or trade, or for any other related purposes.
“Carpet Area” means the net usable floor area of an apartment, excluding the area covered by the external walls, areas under services shafts, exclusive balcony or verandah area and exclusive open terrace area, but includes the area covered by the internal partition walls of the apartment.
“Commencement Certificate” means the commencement certificate or the building permit or the construction permit, by whatever name called issued by the competent authority to allow or permit the promoter to begin development works on an immovable property, as per the sanctioned plan.
“Common areas” means :-
- The entire land for the real estate project or where the project is developed in phases and registration under this Act is sought for a phase, the entire land for that phase
- The stair cases, lifts, staircase and lift lobbies, fir escapes, and common entrances and exits of buildings
- The common basements, terraces, parks, play areas, open parking areas and common storage spaces
- The premises for the lodging of persons employed for the management of the property including accommodation for watch and ward staffs or for the lodging of community service personnel
- Installations of central services such as electricity, gas, water and sanitation, air-conditioning and incinerating, system for water conservation and renewable energy
- The water tanks, sumps, motors, fans, compressors, ducts and all apparatus connected with installations for common use.
- All community and commercial facilities as provided in the real estate project.
- All other portion of the project necessary or convenient for its maintenance, safety, etc., and in common use.
“Competent Authority” means the local authority or any authority created or established under any law for the time being in force by the appropriate Government which exercises authority over land under its jurisdiction, and has powers to give permission for development of such immovable property.
“Completion Certificate” means the completion certificate, or such other certificate, by whatever name called, issued by the competent authority certifying that the real estate project has been developed according to the sanctioned plan, layout plan and specifications, as approved by the competent authority under the local laws.
“Development” with its grammatical variations and cognate expressions, means carrying out the development of immovable property, engineering or other operations in, on, over or under the land or the making of any material change in any immovable property or land and includes re-development.
“Development Works” means the external development works and internal development works on immovable property.
“Estimated Cost of Real Estate Project” means the total cost involved in developing the real estate project and includes the land cost, taxes, cess, development and other charges.
“External Development Works” means roads, footpaths, water supply, sewers, drains, parks, tree planting, street lighting, provision for community buildings and for treatment and disposal of sewage and sullage water, solid waste management and disposal, water conservation, energy management, fire protection and fire safety requirements, social infrastructure such as educational health and other public amenities or any other work in a project for its benefit, as per sanctioned plans.
“Family” includes husband, wife, minor son and unmarried daughter wholly dependent on a person.
“Garage” means a place within a project having a roof and walls on three sides for parking any vehicle, but does not include an unenclosed or uncovered parking space such as open parking areas.
“Immovable Property” includes land, buildings, rights of ways, lights or any other benefit arising out of land and things attached to the earth or permanently fastened to anything which is attached to the earth, but not standing timber, standing crops or grass.
“Internal Development Works” means prescribed by rules made under this Act.
“Local Authority” means the Municipal Corporation or Municipality or Panchayats or any other Local Body constituted under any law for the time being in force for providing municipal services or basic services, as the case may be, in respect of areas under its jurisdiction.
“Member” means the member of the Real Estate Regulatory Authority appointed under section 21 and includes the Chairperson.
“Notification” means a notification published in the Official Gazette and the expression “notify” shall be construed accordingly.
“Occupancy Certificate” means the occupancy certificate, or such other certificate by whatever name called, issued by the competent authority permitting occupation of any building, as provided under local laws, which has provision for civic infrastructure such as water, sanitation and electricity.
- An individual
- A Hindu undivided family
- A company
- A firm under the Indian Partnership Act, 1932 or the Limited Liability Partnership Act, 2008, as the case may be
- A competent authority
- An association of persons or a body of individuals whether incorporated or not
- A co-operative society registered under any law relating to co-operative societies
- Any such other entity as the appropriate Government may, by notification, specify in this behalf
“Promoter” means :-
- A person who constructs or causes to be constructed an independent building or a building consisting of apartments, or converts an existing building or a part thereof into apartments, for the purpose of selling all or some of the apartments to other persons and includes his assignees; or
- A person who develops land into a project, whether or not the person also constructs structures on any of the plots, for the purpose of selling to other persons all or some of the plots in the said project, whether with or without structures thereon; or
- Any development authority or any other public body in respect of allottees of
- Buildings or apartments, as the case may be, constructed by such authority or body on lands owned by them or placed at their disposal by the Government; or
- Plots owned by such authority or body or placed at their disposal by the Government, for the purpose of selling all or some of the apartments or plots; or
- An apex State level co-operative housing finance society and a primary co-operative housing society which constructs apartments or buildings for its Members or in respect of the allottees of such apartments or buildings; or
- Any other person who acts himself as a builder, coloniser, contractor, developer, estate developer or by any other name or claims to be acting as the holder of a power of attorney from the owner of the land on which the building or apartment is constructed or plot is developed for sale; or
- Such other person who constructs any building or apartment for sale to the general public
Explanation:—For the purposes of this clause, where the person who constructs or converts a building into apartments or develops a plot for sale and the persons who sells apartments or plots are different persons, both of them shall be deemed to be the promoters and shall be jointly liable as such for the functions and responsibilities specified, under this Act or the rules and regulations made thereunder
“Prospectus” means any document described or issued as a prospectus or any notice, circular, or other document offering for sale or any real estate project or inviting any person to make advances or deposits for such purposes.
“Real Estate Agent” means any person, who negotiates or acts on behalf of one person in a transaction of transfer of his plot, apartment or building, as the case may be, in a real estate project, by way of sale, with another person or transfer of plot, apartment or building, as the case may be, of any other person to him and receives remuneration or fees or any other charges for his services whether as commission or otherwise and includes a person who introduces, through any medium, prospective buyers and sellers to each other for negotiation for sale or purchase of plot, apartment or building, as the case may be, and includes property dealers, brokers, middlemen by whatever name called.
“Real Estate Project” means the development of a building or a building consisting of apartments, or converting an existing building or a part thereof into apartments, or the development of land into plots or apartment, as the case may be, for the purpose of selling all or some of the said apartments or plots or building, as the case may be, and includes the common areas, the development works, all improvements and structures thereon, and all easement, rights and appurtenances belonging there to.
“Rule” means the rules made under this Act by the appropriate Government.
We hope, this list of RERA Glossary / RERA Terminologies will help you to understand the key terms of RERA. We are happy to share that our PG Diploma in Construction Management, as well as our workshops, are in line with the regulations and objectives set out in RERA. Whether it is budget, quality or time management as per RERA, our objective is to cover all such aspects through our training programs and workshops.
If you wish to know more about RERA for Civil Engineers, contact our team today!
