Times Property, Times of India Mumbai - April, 2005

The Confederation of Real Estate Developer’s Associations of India (CREDAI), a national real estate body, was formed four years ago. CREDAI now boasts of a membership of more than 2,000 real estate developers across the country.

The first thing the association did was chalk out a code of conduct, designed to make the profession more transparent and credible.

Kumar Gera, President CREDAI, says, “We have been taking initiatives to make the real estate industry more organized; for instance, holding technical and business related seminars. An important representation to the Government resulted in reduction in housing finance interest rates and made rates competitive by the introduction of “infrastructure status” to housing developments.”

When the code of conduct was formulated, the rationale was to bring in transparency so as to secure co-operation between developers, promoters, builders and their consumers in order to benefit all parties to the transaction.

“We have encouraged fast track clearance for the sanction and approval of real estate development in several states,” says Gera.

“We have been holding seminars at local levels on various issues of importance to member associations – such as formation of society or body corporates, labor welfare, water harvesting and tree plantation.”

CREDAI also plays a role in dealing with customer complaints. “We have had customers approaching us in the past; however, our role has been of a facilitator. Our experience has been that in most cases mutual discussion can solve the problem. The maximum we do is to orchestrate the talks so that the issues gets solved,” says Ranjit Naik Navare, Honorary Secretary, CREDAI. He adds, “We do receive complaints and forward them to the member association for further action.”

Gera adds: “In the last four years, there have been few cases where action had been taken against members. Action has been taken by the concerned member associations by terminating their membership.”

Although CREDAI was formed with the welfare of the customer in mind, there are a few who are aware of it. As a prospective buyer says, “I was certainly not aware of such a organization but now since I know about it I shall certainly approach them in case of a problem.”