Real Estate Bill to be tabled in Lok Sabha today

With just two working days left in first half of the Budget Session, the Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Bill, 2015, will today be tabled in Lok Sabha for discussion and passage.

The Bill would face no hurdle in the lower house as the ruling NDA has a majority in the Lok Sabha.

The first half of the session is concluding on Wednesday, and will resume on April 25 after a recess of over one month.

The Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Bill, 2015, which intends to protect home buyers, bring in transparency and plug the flow of unaccounted money into the sector, was passed by Rajya Sabha Thursday.

The Bill provides that 70 per cent of sale proceeds will have to be kept aside by the developer in an escrow account - an escrow is a financial instrument held by a third party on behalf of the other two parties in a transaction - and it can be utilised for land cost and construction of the related project. It, therefore, provides greater certainty to buyers that the money they pay to the developer will be utilised for development of the project where they have bought houses.