Section 2 in The West Bengal Housing Industry Regulation Act, 2017
2. Definitions.
- In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires,-(a)"advertisement" means any document described or issued as advertisement through any medium and includes any notice, circular or other documents or publicity in any form, informing persons about a real estate project, or offering for sale of a plot, building or apartment or inviting persons to purchase in any manner such plot, building or apartment or to make advances or deposits for such purposes;(b)"agreement for sale" means an agreement entered into between, the promoter and the allottee;(c)"allottee" in relation to a real estate project, means the person to whom a plot, apartment or building, as the case may be, has been allotted, sold (whether as freehold or leasehold) or otherwise transferred by the promoter, and includes the person who subsequently acquires the paid allotment through sale, transfer or otherwise but does not include a person to whom such plot, apartment or building, as the case may be, is given on rent;(d)"apartment" whether called block, chamber, dwelling unit, flat, office, showroom, shop, godown, premises, suit, tenement, unit or by any other name, means a separate and self-contained part of any immovable property, including one or more rooms or enclosed spaces, located on one or more floors or any part thereof, in a building or a plot of land, used or intended to be used for any residential or commercial use such as residence, office, shop, showroom or godown or for carrying on any business, occupation, profession or trade, or for any other type of used ancillary to the purpose specified;(e)"Appellate Tribunal" means the West Bengal Housing Industry Appellate Tribunal established under section 43;(f)"architect" means a person registered as an architect under the provisions of the Architects Act, 1972 (20 of 1972);(g)"Authority" means the Housing Industry Regulatory Authority established under sub-section (1) of section 20;(h)"building" includes any structure or erection or part of a structure or erection which is intended to be used for residential, commercial or for the purpose of any business, occupation, profession or trade, or for any other related purposes;(i)"car parking area" means such area as may be prescribed;(j)"carpet area" means the net usable floor area of an apartment, excluding the area covered by the external walls, areas under services shafts, exclusive balcony or verandah area and exclusive open terrace area, but includes the area covered by the internal partition walls of the apartment.Explanation. - For the purpose of this clause, the expression "exclusive balcony or verandah area" means the area of the balcony or verandah, as the case may be, which is appurtenant to the net usable floor area of an apartment, meant for the exclusive use of the allottee, and "exclusive open terrace area" means the area of open terrace which is appurtenant to the net usable floor area of an apartment, meant for the exclusive use of the allottee;(k)"Chairperson" means the Chairperson of the Housing Industry Regulatory Authority appointed under section 21;(l)"commencement notice" means the commencement notice or the building permit or the construction permit, by whatever name called issued by the competent authority to allow or permit the promoter to begin development works on an immovable property, as per the sanctioned plan;(m)"common areas" mean-(i)the entire land for the real estate project or where the project is developed in phases and registration under this Act is sought for a phase, the entire land for that phase;(ii)the staircases, lifts, staircase and lift lobbies, fire escapes and common entrances and exits of buildings;(iii)the common basements, terraces, parks, play areas, open parking areas and common storage spaces;(iv)the premises for the lodging of persons employed for the management of the property including accommodation for watch and ward staffs or for the lodging of community service personnel;(v)installations of central services such as electricity, gas, water and sanitation, air-conditioning and incinerating, system for water conservation and renewable energy;(vi)the water tanks, sumps, motors, fans, compressors, ducts and all apparatus connected with installations for common use;(vii)all community and commercial facilities as provided in the real estate project;(viii)all other portion of the project necessary or convenient for its maintenance, safety, etc. and in common use;(n)"company" means a company incorporated and registered under the Companies Act, 2013 (18 of 2013) and includes,-(i)a corporation established by or under any Central Act or State Act;(ii)a development authority or any public authority established by the Government in this behalf under any law for the time being in force;(o)"competent authority" means the local authority or any authority created or established under any law for the time being in force which exercises authority over land under its jurisdiction, and has powers to give permission for development of such immovable property;(p)"completion certificate" means the completion certificate, or such other certificate, by whatever name called, issued by the competent authority certifying that the real estate project has been developed according to the sanctioned plan, layout plan and specifications, as approved by the competent authority under the local laws;(q)"day" means the working day, in the State notified by the State Government from time to time;(r)"development" with its grammatical variations and cognate expressions, means carrying out the development of immovable property, engineering or other operations in, on, over or under the land or the making of any material change in any immovable property or land and includes re-development;(s)"development works" means the external development works and internal development works on immovable property;(t)"engineer" means a person who possesses a bachelor`s degree or equivalent or Diploma from an institution recognised by (sic) All India Council of Technical Education or any University (sic) Institution recognized under a law or is registered as an Eng (sic) under any law for the time being in force;(u)"estimated cost of real estate project" means the total cost involved in developing the real estate project and includes the land cost, land development cost, taxes, cess, development and other charges;(v)"external development works" includes roads and road systems landscaping, water supply, sewerage and drainage systems, electricity supply transformer, sub-station, solid waste management and disposal or any other work which may have to be executed in the periphery of, or outside, a project for its benefit, as may be provided under the local laws;(w)"family" includes husband, wife, minor son and unmarried daughter wholly dependent on a person;(x)"garage" means garage and parking space as sanctioned by the Competent Authority;(y)"housing industry" means the industry which deals with development, construction, sale of houses and plots of land for any purpose;(z)"immovable property" includes land, buildings, rights of ways, lights or any other benefit arising out of land and things attached to the earth or permanently fastened to anything which is attached to the earth, but not standing timber, standing crops or grass;(za)"interest" means the rates of interest payable by the promoter or the allottee, as the case may be;Explanation. - For the purpose of this clause-(i)the rate of interest chargeable from the allottee by the promoter, in case of default, shall be equal to the rate of interest which the promoter shall be liable to pay the allottee, in case of default;(ii)the interest payable by the promoter to the allottee shall be from the date the promoter received the amount or any part thereof till the date the amount or part thereof and interest thereon is refunded, and the interest payable by the allottee to the promoter shall be from the date the allottee defaults in payment to the promoter till the date it is paid;(zb)"internal development works" means roads, footpaths, water supply, sewers, drains, parks, tree planting, street lighting, provision for community buildings and for treatment and disposal of sewage and sullage water, solid waste management and disposal, water conservation, energy management, fire protection and fire safety requirements, social infrastructure such as educational health and other public amenities or any other work in a project for its benefit, as per sanctioned plans;(zc)"local authority" means the Municipal Corporation or Municipality or Panchayats or Industrial Township Authority or any other Local Body constituted under any law for the time being in force for providing municipal services or basic services, as the case may be, in respect of areas under its jurisdiction;(zd)"Member" means the member of the Housing Industry Regulatory Authority appointed under section 21 and includes the Chairperson;(ze)"notification" means a notification published in the Official Gazette;(zf)"occupancy certificate" means the occupancy certificate, or such other certificate by whatever name called, issued by the competent authority permitting occupation of any building, as provided under local laws, which has provision for civic infrastructure such as water, sanitation and electricity;(zg)"Person" includes,-(i)an individual;(ii)a Hindu undivided family;(iii)a company;(iv)a firm under the Indian Partnership Act, 1932 or the Limited Liability Partnership Act, 2008, as the case may be;(v)a competent authority;(vi)an association of persons or a body of individuals whether incorporated or not;(vii)a cooperative society registered under any law relating to cooperative societies;(viii)any such other entity as the State Government may, by notification, specify in this behalf;(zh)"prescribed" means prescribed by rules made under this Act;(zi)"project" means the real estate project as defined in clause (zm);(zj)"promoter" means,-(i)a person who constructs or causes to be constructed an independent building or a building consisting of apartments, or converts an existing building or a part thereof into apartments, for the purpose of selling all or some of the apartments to other persons and includes his assignees; or(ii)a person who develops land into a project, whether or not the person also constructs structures on any of the plots, for the purpose of selling to other persons all or some of the plots in the said project, whether with or without structures thereon; or(iii)any development authority or any other public body in respect of allottees of-(A)buildings or apartments, as the case may be, constructed by such authority or body on lands owned by them or placed at their disposal by the Government; or(B)plots owned by such authority or body or placed at their disposal by the Government, for the purpose of selling all or some of the apartments or plots; or(iv)an apex State level cooperative housing finance society and a primary cooperative housing society which constructs apartments or buildings for its Members or in respect of the allottees of such apartments or buildings; or(v)any other person who acts himself as a builder, colonizer, contractor, developer, estate developer or by any other name or claims to be acting as the holder of a power of attorney from the owner of the land on which the building or apartment is constructed or plot is developed for sale; or(vi)such other person who constructs any building or apartment for sale to the general public.Explanation. - For the purposes of this clause, where the person who constructs or converts a building into apartments or develops a plot for sale and the persons who sell apartments or plots are different persons, both of them shall be deemed to be the promoters and shall be jointly liable as such for the functions and responsibilities specified under this Act or the rules and regulations made thereunder;(zk)"prospectus" means any document described or issued as a prospectus or any notice, circular, or other document offering for sale of any real estate project or inviting any person to make advances or deposits for such purposes;(zl)"real estate agent" means any person, who negotiates or acts on behalf of one person in a transaction of transfer of his plot, apartment or building, as the case may be, in a real estate project, by way of sale, with another person or transfer of plot, apartment or building, as the case may be, of any other person to him and receives remuneration or fees or any other charges for his services whether as commission or otherwise and includes a person who introduces, through any medium , prospective buyers and sellers to each other for negotiation for sale or purchase of plot, apartment or building, as the case may be, and includes property dealers, brokers, middlemen by whatever name called;(zm)"real estate project" means the development of a building or a building consisting of apartments, or converting an existing building or a part thereof into apartments, or the development of land into plots or apartment, as the case may be, for the purpose of selling all or some of the said apartments or plots or building, as the case may be, and includes the common areas, the development works, all improvements and structures thereon, and all easement, rights and appurtenances belonging thereto;(zn)"regulations" means the regulations made by the Authority under this Act;(zo)"rule" means the rules made under this Act by the State Government;(zp)"sanctioned plan" means the site plan, building plan, building permit, service plan, parking and circulation plan, landscape plan, layout plan, zoning plan and such other plan and includes structural designs, if applicable, permissions such as environment permission and such other permissions, which are approved by the competent authority prior to start of a real estate project;(zq)"State Government" means the State Government in the Housing Department;(zr)words and expressions used herein but not defined in this Act and defined in any law for the time being in force or in the municipal laws or such other relevant laws of the State Government shall have the same meanings respectively assigned to them in those laws.
