For many, buying a residential property is the biggest investment they make in their lifetime. Last week, the government released for public comments a draft Real Estate Regulation Bill, which is said to be on its way to becoming a law in the winter session of Parliament. As such, this is a step towards bringing some semblance of consumer protection to the decidedly anti-consumer practices of the real-estate industry.

However, this news did give me a strong feeling of deja vu. When I googled the phrase ‘India real estate regulatory bill’, I came across a newspaper article from 2006 saying that a real estate regulatory bill was expected to be passed in the 2006 winter session of Parliament.

I also came across another article from 2008 that said a real estate regulatory bill was expected to be passed in the 2008 winter session of Parliament. Not just that, I also also came across a draft of a model bill dated September 2009 with a covering letter from a government official attached.

The letter said that the bill should be put up on the web by November 9, 2009, and comments invited from the public. So, I wouldn’t keep my fingers crossed too hard.

Nonetheless, if and when this bill does become a law, it will be a huge improvement for house-buyers in India. Many, if not most, of the problems associated with buying a house at every step could be solved substantially.

For example, right at the beginning of the process, buyers face the problem of getting trustworthy information about the identity of the promoter and basic facts regarding the legal and approval status of the land and the project concerned.

The new law will mandate that each project be registered with and approved by the Real Estate Regulatory Authority and that all information filed with the authority be made available on its website.

No project can be announced or advertised before this registration. This alone will be a huge impediment to so many unhealthy practices.

The draft bill also mandates that the developer stick to the announced specifications and plan, and it lays down penalties if they don’t. Currently, these things are just part of a one-sided agreement that developers typically present to buyers as fait accompli.

Around the country, buyers’ biggest troubles arise from long delays and from developers transferring money from one project to another. The new law tackles this. Registration of a project is for three years and is then extendable for specific reasons twice for one year each. After that, the law allows for what appears to be a handover of the project to some other entity like an association of the buyers.

As far as fund diversion is concerned, the draft law is less than satisfactory. It mandates that 70% of the funds taken from buyers be kept in a separate audited account and paid out only for project expenditure. This is strange, because the 2009 model law said that 100% of the funds should be thus isolated.

Scarcity of land in Uttar Pradesh’s showpiece city of Noida and problems with acquisition of what is available are forcing property developers to explore options elsewhere, and rival Gurgaon is benefiting from it.

Real estate developers in Noida, such as ATS Infrastructure, The 3C Company and Earth Infrastructures, which have about 11 residential projects between them in the city and its surroundings, have either bought land or signed joint development agreements in Gurgaon over the last six to eight months.

The development underscores the problems the real estate sector has been facing in Noida since May this year when farmers’ protests over low prices for their land snowballed into a political issue, leaving projects and buyers stranded.

“Noida Authority now has no land left in its bank to sell to developers,” said Shiv Priya, executive director at Amrapali Developers, a real estate firm scouting for land in Gurgaon. According to property research firm PropEquity, Gurgaon registered a rise in sales of residential units at a time when the market was down in most parts of the country.

Home sales in Gurgaon in the July-September quarter rose 34% from the year-ago period while that in Noida dipped 36%. “The sentiment of buyers has been affected in Noida because of which sales have fallen,” said Anshuman Magazine, managing director of CB Richard Ellis, a commercial real estate services firm.

Developer ATS recently bought a 14-acre plot of licensed land in Gurgaon’s sector 109 forRs 150 crore and signed a joint development agreement with the Chintels group for another 10-acre plot in sector 106. Similarly, 3C Company has signed an agreement with Orris Infrastructure to jointly develop a 47-acre plot in Gurgaon’s sector 89. 3C, which was active only in Noida until now, is planning a group housing project there.

Gurgaon, which is on the southwest of the national capital, had wooed the information technology industry with its gleaming buildings and swanky malls in the late 90s. “We also got a good feedback from many of our existing customers about setting up a project in Gurgaon, which is why we have signed a joint development agreement,” said Brijesh Bhanote, director, sales and marketing, at 3C Company.

There is no new prime land available in Noida, he added. Anckur Srivasttava, chairman of property consultancy Gen-Real Property Advisers, said developers are waiting for the political uncertainty to reduce post state elections next year. Sales of residential apartments in Noida plunged after angry farmers started blocking housing projects.

The agitation, which started in a certain area of Greater Noida, became a larger movement with farmers across the city seeking higher compensation. The issue was settled after a high court ordered the city development authority to pay higher compensation to farmers.

The authority was also asked to return 5% of the farmland it had acquired after March 1997. Property firm Earth Infrastructures, which operated mainly in Noida, has started a residential project on a 10.5-acre plot it bought in Gurgaon’s sector 112 earlier this year.