The Maharashtra Real Estate Regulatory Authority (MahaRERA), take the first action on a real estate company for “misleading consumers.” MahaRERA has imposed a fine of Rs. 1,20,000 on Sai Estate Consultant, for advertising unregistered real estate project of Haware Builders and misleading the consumers. Agent also asked to tender apology and restrain from indulging in such misleading ads.

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 a lesson from this order, which is first of its kind under the newly legislated RERA Act.

This ad was put up by Haware Builders about their project in Thane and appeared in a leading Marathi newspaper on June 1.

In it, Sai Estate Consultants (SEC) has been mentioned as the project’s marketing agent. SEC’s registration number with MahaRERA has also been mentioned. Builders and real estate agents have been given three months to register their projects with the regulator before they are fined.