The newly appointed Union Minister for Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation (MHUPA) Mr. Ajay Maken said that the government plans to appoint a regulatory body for protecting the home buyers from the hands of real estate sharks.

During a press conference Mr. Ajay Maken said to the media that the MHUPA  is about to set up a regulatory body for protecting the home buyers who often face severe troubles from the real estate developers.

On the same occasion the MHUPA  Minister did not forget to stress on the need of proper planning in the residential sector.

Mr. Maken said that the draft is already prepared and with this regulatory body MHUPA   will be able to control the real estate sharks which cause trouble to the home buyers.

According to the available information the regulatory bill is soon to be introduced by the Central government. This bill will certainly block the unreliable real estate builders and developers.

It seems that the draft of the bill has already been on the verge of completion. With the introduction of the regulatory bill ne’er-do-well real estate builders will be under control, the head of MHUPA continued.

Pointing to the statistics of the country Mr. Maken said that the number of vacant houses in the country was increasing. He added that only 11% of the total housing units are occupied by middle or upper middle classes. This is the case of developed areas of the city.

The current year witnessed a huge shortfall in the Lower Income Group (LIG) housing. The number reached only 1.87 crore which is far behind the numbers of previous years.

Recent trends show that the real estate residential constructions are mainly aimed at providing top-end luxury. Only the people with higher income can afford for such luxury villas and apartments. The remaining weaker section of the people finds it harder to purchase a home now.

Mr. Maken said that the bill will make it mandatory for the builders to construct budget homes too. As per the bill 35% of real estate construction should be reserved for the less privileged. Real estate builders will thus, have to reserve some flats and apartments for the middle income group as well.

The minister suggested that such real estate residences should not be more than 25 sq. m. He said that the real estate developers have two options either reserve 35 % of each project for the less privileged or 15 % of the FAR.

Earlier this month the housing and urban poverty alleviation ministry- MHUPA   had formulated a new criterion for the weaker sections of the people. As per this new criteria the families who live in cities with less than Rs. 1 lakh per year or Rs. 8334 per month, will fall into a new category called economically weaker section (EWS).

At the same time people with annual income in between Rs. 1 to 2 lakhs will be considered as Low Income group-LIG. The monthly limitation for the LIG is Rs. 16,667 which is nearly the double than the EWS.

The existing criterion is monthly income of Rs. 5000 and Rs. 60000 annual for EWS and for LIG this is Rs. 5001 to 10000 or up to 1.2 lakh yearly.