According to data collected by the Maharashtra Real Estate Regulatory Authority (MahaRERA), there are over 300 housing projects undergoing insolvency in Maharashtra, with more than three-fourths of them located in and around Mumbai. The agency, under the leadership of Ajoy Mehta, is taking strict action against developers who are delaying projects or not keeping homebuyers informed about project statuses, as well as those selling stalled project properties. MahaRERA is closely monitoring all projects and collecting information from all available sources.
Out of the 308 housing projects that have been dragged to the insolvency court by lenders and creditors, 115 are ongoing, while the remaining projects have lapsed. Ongoing projects are those where other developers may have stepped in to complete them. For instance, Godrej Properties has taken over as the development manager for Modella Textiles Industries’ project in Thane. Lapsed projects are those where no construction is taking place and have been abandoned. Some of the names mentioned in the data include Neptune Developers, Housing Development & Infrastructure, Lavasa Corp, and Nirmal Lifestyle.
The data reveals that over half of the registered houses in 32 ongoing projects are being developed. In contrast, there are 150 lapsed projects where over half of the residences have been registered. Among 83 ongoing projects and 43 completed projects, less than half have houses registered.
To prevent homebuyers from being cheated, MahaRERA has collected information available with the National Law Tribunal and has put it up on its website. The regulator noted that since none of these projects provided information on sales, purchases, and registrations, it was unclear whether these projects were still accepting new customers.
The data also showed that the highest number of lapsed projects are in Pune, Mumbai, and Thane. MahaRERA’s efforts to crack down on errant real estate developers aim to safeguard homebuyers and ensure that they get the homes they have paid for.