Pune: The Maharashtra Real Estate Regulatory Authority (MahaRERA) disposed of 5,267 complaints between Oct 2024 and July 2025, officials on Monday said, adding all cases filed by the end of July either received their first hearings or were scheduled. Homebuyers approach the authority over delayed possession, poor construction, or missing amenities. To speed up grievance redressal, MahaRERA chairman Manoj Saunik and members Mahesh Pathak and Ravindra Deshpande have for the first time started fixing hearings within one or two months of registration of a complaint — a marked improvement from earlier delays stretching into several months, officials said. During the same 10-month period, 3,743 fresh complaints were filed. “Homebuyers invest their lifetime’s savings in homes. It is our responsibility to protect their legitimate interests through timely hearings and fair orders,” a senior MahaRERA official told TOI.Welcoming quicker hearings, homebuyers and activists said compliance is the key. “Getting dates faster is positive, but many builders still delay offering possessions or compensation even after orders,” said Pune homebuyer Abhishek Jadhav.An advocate helping a homebuyer added MahaRERA has improved efficiency, but enforcement of orders is very important for real relief.Officials said preventing disputes is as crucial as resolving them. Every new project is now subject to a three-step scrutiny — legal, financial, and technical — by independent panels before approval. Projects that fail to meet any of the criteria are rejected, they said. “The aim is not just to clear complaints but to ensure projects are viable from the beginning, so that buyers’ investments remain safe and the scope for disputes reduces drastically,” another MahaRERA official said.Data shows MahaRERA has since its inception in May 2017 received 30,833 complaints, of which 23,726 have been resolved. As much as 79% of the complaints stemmed from projects launched before RERA came into force.Of the resolved cases, 23,661 were linked to 3,523 pre-RERA projects, while 6,218 complaints pertained to 2,269 projects registered after the regulator’s creation. Currently, Maharashtra has 51,481 registered projects, with complaints filed against 5,792 of them. Complainants who have been waiting for years said that the authority should keep up the momentum and ensure disposing of all cases at the earliest. “This should not be just a phase; it should be carried out continuously for it to remain effective,” said a complainant who recently had his first hearing.
