Haryana RERA Orders Apartments' Sale on the Basis of Carpet Area Only

The Haryana RERA has declared that the sale of apartments in the state will be done only based on carpet area. The move has been carried out to regulate the sale of apartments and comes as a big relief to the homebuyers.

After the Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act, 2016 [RERA], the need to frame regulations on the sale of apartments/floors in a real estate project based on carpet area was also much needed. The purpose of these regulations is to make sure that there is complete transparency and efficiency in the procedure of the sale of apartments/floors. This will also safeguard the interest of buyers in the real estate sector. The sale of apartments/floors based on a super area basis is very deceptive, ambiguous, and leads to uncertainty for buyers.

Before RERA, it was a common practice by builders to list their properties based on the super area for sale. This would lead to confusion among the homebuyers about how spacious the property was. The super area of a property includes the carpet area of the home, along with balconies, terraces, and areas covered by a wall and common areas including the lift, stairs, etc. This gave a completely wrong idea about the size of the property and also decreases the per square feet cost of the home.

With this decision, RERA has now resolved the issue of uncertainty attached with the definition of carpet area. The carpet area excludes the area covered by the external walls, like an exclusive balcony or veranda area under section 2(k) of the Act. It has been clarified that the carpet area doesn’t include common areas like the lift, and lobby. The net usable area includes the internal partition walls of the apartment which are a part of the integral structure, that is, the carpet area.