Inviting buyers sans registration, WBRERA fines promoter Rs 55K

Kolkata: The West Bengal Real Estate Regulatory Authority (WBRERA) has imposed a penalty of Rs 55,000 on a developer for inviting home buyers through hoardings without registering his real estate project.

According to WBRERA, a huge hoarding drew attention to the matter.

The real estate project was coming up in the Hazinagar area under Naihati

Police Station. The hoarding at the site was inviting bookings from prospective home buyers.

However, it allegedly didn’t mention any WBRERA registration number.

An inspecting team was sent for a field-level inspection. It was confirmed that neither the promoter registered the project with WBRERA (nor with the erstwhile WBHIRA) nor did he apply for a registration. Under the circumstances, officials said that by inviting booking of apartments, the promoter violated Section (3) of the Real Estate (Regulation & Development) Act.

Section (3) of The Real Estate (Regulation & Development) Act 2016 provides that no promoter shall advertise, market, book, sell or offer for sale or invite any person to purchase in any manner any plot, apartment or building, as the case may be, in any real estate project or part of it, in any planning area, without registering the project with the Real Estate Regulatory Authority established under the Act.

The promoter company was duly served a show-cause notice dated November 20, 2024, but even after receiving it, the company allegedly failed to respond within the stipulated time.

The company was then called upon to attend a hearing on February 10, 2025, to present its case. An authorised representative attended the hearing but couldn’t allegedly make a plausible case for the violation.

WBRERA imposed a penalty of Rs 55,000 on the company.

Further violations if any will invite more stringent measures, it was stated. Under Section 59(1) of the Act, any contravention of the provision of Section 3 will attract a penalty as determined by the authority.