ISLAMABAD: The National Assembly has recently passed the bill of approval for the establishment of the Real Estate Regulation Authority in Pakistan.
This bill was passed as a result of Senator Mohsin Aziz’s efforts of establishing a real estate monitory organization in the federal capital.
One of the first clauses of the bills that came to notice was that it will be mandatory for the real estate agents to list themselves with RERA to sell their properties.
As reported by none other than the Prime Minister’s special assistant Ali Nawaz Azan, there was a dire need to regulate the real estate sector of Pakistan to protect the rights of the people.
Subsequently, the purpose of this bill is to regulate the Real estate sector and making it more transparent and efficient in its methods.
The Bill can be seen as a tool to empower the real estate agents of the sector, however, if there is a violation that comes into notice RERA will have the authority to revoke licenses.
In addition to this, the National Assembly also passed the Rent restriction Amendment bill under which all the rent agreements between landlord and tenants will need to be presented before an official rent controller for effective record keeping.
Moreover, all the necessary agreements and tenant payments will need to be made with an official receipt and acknowledgment so that there is a record that can be tallied.
The Need for RERA in the Capital:
No matter what part of the world you choose to observe you will find that the stock market and real estate make up for the key roles of an economy. However, real estate has not been able to reach its maximum potential in Pakistan due to the overregulation of the FBR, the uncertainty of the stock market, real estate frauds. The increased taxes and banning of the non-filers serve very little purpose in the regulation of the Real-estate sector in Pakistan. There is a need for a proper organization that controls the official record-keeping and regulating the sale and purchase of properties, especially in the capital.
Rise of Economy through Amendments in the Real Estate sector:
The government is realizing that there need to be major amendments introduced in the real estate sector of Pakistan. Multiple industries are directly or indirectly dependent on the growth of the real-estate sector in Pakistan. The construction industry of Pakistan accounts for 2% of the share in the annual GDP of Pakistan.
This construction industry is directly reliant on the real estate industry. So, the growth of the real estate sector is bound to bring overall growth in the economy of Pakistan. The imposition of huge taxes and the non-filer policies have shaken the confidence of the sector already, however in the capital in particular the risk of fraudulent activity and disputes are a rising contribution to the decline in the real estate sector.
A system of proper record keeping must be maintained. With that said, the major challenge to the sector still stands to be the increased taxation on the investors and lack of relief. There is a major need to regulate FBR policies to see a significant change in the real estate sector.