Sharing the concerns of homebuyers, a parliamentary committee on Thursday recommended that all real estate projects of more than 500 sqm or eight flats should be brought under the purview of the Real Estate Bill, 2013.

The Select Committee on the Real Estate Bill, in its report in Rajya Sabha, also recommended that 50 per cent of payments made by homebuyers for a real estate project should be kept in a separate account and used for that specific purpose only while the rest can be spent on other projects.

The 21-member committee, headed by BJP MP Anil Madhav Dave, has retained all the penal provisions for defaulters in the said Bill, including fine for the first offence and three years’ imprisonment for subsequent violations.

The Bill aims to establish the Real Estate Regulatory Authority (RERA) for regulation and promotion of the real estate sector and to set up an adjudicating mechanism for speedy dispute redressal. It also aims to establish the appellate tribunal to hear appeals against the decisions of the RERA.

The panel recommended that promoters should get their accounts audited within six months after the close of every financial year by a practising chartered accountant. It was also of the view that real estate development beyond town planning area may be brought under the ambit of the Bill.

The committee, however, did not agree that a person holding more than two apartments or plots in the same project should be treated as a promoter. It said that a promoter, while applying for registration of any project with the authority, should enclose details of its existing projects, details of approvals, land title and payment dues.

The panel also redefined the carpet area, saying it means the net usable floor area of an apartment, excluding the area covered by the external walls and that under service shafts, exclusive balcony or verandah and open terrace areas, although it would include the area covered by the internal partition walls of the apartment.