NEW DELHI: All states, barring Gujarat, have missed the deadline to operationalise the Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act which seeks to protect homebuyers’ interests. State governments had time till October 31to notify rules under the Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act and operationalise it. Gujarat notified the rules a day in advance but others didn’t.The Ministry of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation (HUPA), which had to notify rules for the union territories Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Chandigarh, Dadra and Nagar Haveli, Daman and Diu and Lakshadweep, completed the formality on Monday evening. But the urban development ministry, which was responsible for Delhi, missed the deadline. According to government sources, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu have finalised the rules, but have not notified them. Haryana, a BJP-ruled state, has designated the chief secretary as an interim real estate regulatory authority for addressing disputes but has not notified the Act. “This is a futile exercise as the rules have not been notified,” said an official.The HUPA secretary has written at least three letters to chief secretaries of state governments to push the notification of rules. The ministry has now sought time from the Committee on Subordinate Legislature of Rajya Sabha for notifying the rules. The ministry’s rules would serve as a guide for state governments now.The HUPA ministry had finalised the rules and put them in the public domain. After receiving about 500 suggestions, it has tweaked some provisions and notified the finalised rules. Real estate developers would now have to furnish additional information regarding the ongoing projects for the benefit of the buyers besides depositing 70% of the unused funds in a separate bank account to ensure their completion.In case of ongoing projects that have not received a completion certificate in the stipulated time frame, the developers would have to make public the sanctioned building plan with changes made later, total amount collected from allottees, money spent, original timeline and the expected date of completion. The fee for registration of projects has been halved after receiving suggestions from real estate developers. The fee for renewal of registration of projects has also been reduced. The Ministry of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation has operationalised the Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act with the notification of rules.The changes:Developers do not have to divulge their income tax returns, as stipulated earlier in the draft rules.Fee for registration of real estate projects halved.Registration for individual is Rs 10,000 and Rs 50,000 by other entities (as against Rs 25,000 and Rs 2.50 lakh as proposed in the draft rules).The developer, within three months of applying for registration of a project with the Real Estate Regulatory Authority, shall deposit in a separate bank account 70% of the amount collected and unused for ensuring completion of ongoing projects.