IGR allows execution of ‘Agreement for Sale’

BHUBANESWAR: The Inspector General of Registration (IGR) that had put restrictions on execution of ‘agreement for sale’ in the state in May 2022, following Orissa High Court’s concern over ‘registration of sale deeds’ without adequate compliance to the Real Estate Regulation and Development Act (RERA) - 2016, has finally allowed the registering officers to resume the practice.

The move from the IGR came after the Housing and Urban Development (H&UD) department notified the Odisha Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Amendment Rules 2022 on September 12 this year to comply to the provisions of RERA and to make the process of executing agreement for sale practice easier for all stakeholders including promoters and buyers.

IGR Jyotiprakash Das in a letter to all the registering officers of the state last month had stated that following gazette notification issued by the H&UD department for execution of ‘agreement for sale’ between buyers and sellers, “there is no legal impediment in allowing execution and registration of agreements for sale strictly in the new changed format as notified by the department.”

Notably the IGR had stopped the execution of ‘agreement for sale’ from May third week this year citing the order of the high court issued on May 12 has asked it to strictly enforce the section 22-A of the Registration Act and also ensure that sale deeds registered hereafter strictly abide by the provisions of the RERA Act and rules made thereunder.Subsequently, the H&UD department notified the new real estate regulations to streamline the agreement for sale of houses and make the rules compliant with the RERA Act 2016.

Under the new rules the government clarified that promoter will have to abide by the time schedule for completing the project as disclosed at the time of registration with the authority. Any imposition or increase of development charges after the expiry of the deadline of a project will not be charged from the allottees.