Chembur-based real estate firm fined Rs 1.2 lakh for ‘misleading consumers’
A hoarding advertising Sai Estate Consultants (Image for representation only, Courtesy: Global Advertisers)
A Chembur-based real estate firm has become the first in Maharashtra to get penalized for ‘misleading consumers’ by the newly formed Maharashtra Real Estate Regulatory Authority (MahaRERA).
The regulatory authority prohibits the advertising for sale of flats in projects that are not registered with it.
MahaRERA imposed a fine of Rs 1,20,000 on Sai Estate Consultants for advertising an unregistered real estate project of Haware Builders, and thereby misleading the consumers.
The agent has also been asked to tender apology and restrain from indulging in such misleading advertisements.
Mumbai Grahak Panchayat (MGP) had brought these advertisements to the notice of MahaRERA, on which suo motu action has been taken by the housing regulator.
“MGP welcomes this bold order by the MahaRERA and hope all builders and real estate agents will learn lesson from this order, which is first of its kind under the newly legislated RERA Act,” the MGP said.
The advertisement was put up by Haware Builders about their project in Thane and appeared in a leading Marathi newspaper on June 1.
In the ad, Sai Estate Consultants (SEC) has been mentioned as the project’s marketing agent.
The firm’s registration number with MahaRERA has also been mentioned.
The state RERA came into existence on May 1 with former bureaucrat Gautam Chatterjee as its chairman. Builders and real estate agents have been given three months to register their projects with the regulator, before they are fined.
