MahaRERA is the Maharashtra Real Estate Regulatory Authority that looks after the state’s real estate affairs. Every real estate agent must be registered with MahaRERA before facilitating the sale or purchase of a real estate property.
In January 2023, MahaRERA made it compulsory for new and existing real estate brokers to undergo training and get certified as property brokers.
From January 1st, 2024, MahaRERA has made it mandatory for all its real estate agents and consultants to clear the MahaRERA Certification Exam for Real Estate Agents to practice real estate in the state of Maharashtra. New and existing real estate agents seeking registration or renewal respectively, must mandatorily get a Certificate of Competency from MahaRERA.
The point of conducting this exam is to bring consistency in the practices of the real estate agents and to ensure that they have a thorough understanding and awareness of the real estate market. The real estate agents go through a formal training of 20 hours before taking the exam.
This way, the realtors can guide the buyers diligently and the property buyers can make informed decisions.
The MahaRERA real estate agent license is valid for 5 years.
There is a penalty of 5% on real estate agents who are practicing real estate and conducting real estate transactions in Maharashtra despite not registering with MahaRERA. Even the sales employees of the real estate promoters must get certified to continue their marketing services.
Why is RERA important?
RERA is the Real Estate Regulatory Authority body (w.e.f. May 1st, 2017) in India that looks after and protects home buyers by regulating the real estate sector.
Maharashtra is among the first in India to implement the RERA in the state. Maharashtra has the maximum number of RERA registrations in the country. As of 1st October 2023, more than 40,000 agency projects have been registered with MahaRERA.
MahaRERA is also the first state-level regulatory body to mandate certification for real estate agents.
There are three key players in the real estate market.
- One is the real estate agents/ realtors who bridge the gap between real estate property sellers & buyers.
- Two, the developers/ promoters who construct the real estate properties and make them ready to be marketed or sold.
- Three, the buyers/ allottees are the customers who buy real estate.
Real estate agents are important intermediary connectors between the real estate buyers and the developers. Untrained and uneducated real estate agents pose a threat to both, the property developers and the property buyers. As the RERA certification has become a mark of trust and compulsion, all the developers (like Godrej) will start asking for it.
Such mandatory certifications from authoritative real estate bodies will ensure transparency and the training programs will warrant professionalism to the real estate agents.
So far, around 8,000 real estate agents have cleared the exam and received the Certification of Competency in the 3 Certification exams conducted.
Even now, many brokers are yet to undergo training and get certified.
So, what is the process of real estate agents getting the Certificate of Competency from MahaRERA?
Let us understand!
MahaRERA Certification for Real Estate Agents: The Process
The detailed process for the registration of the certification exam, training, exam, and certification are illustrated below.
Registration
First, a real estate agent aspiring to do real estate property business in Maharashtra must register for the real estate agent certification exam and training on the MahaRERA website.
Training
Secondly, there will be online offline or hybrid (online+offline) training by trained professionals on RERA’s legal framework. It is usually conducted for 3 hours every day from Monday to Friday.
The maximum fee for this online training is INR 5,000 + GST.
The training period is a minimum of 20 hours.
60% attendance is mandatory for the completion of the course and registering for the examination.
It must be noted that a candidate can appear for the exam only after successful completion of the training program.
The training is undertaken by 4 organizations – Rustomjee Academy for Global Careers Pvt. Ltd., National Association of Realtors of India, National Real Estate Development Council, and SIMACES Leaming LLP.
All the sections in RERA (real estate agents, promoters, and buyers) are well-explained in the training sessions by the tutors. Critical information that is very useful for the real estate agents when they are practicing on the field (like registration process, due diligence, sales process, RERA, MahaRERA portal, and real estate calculations), will be shared and given to the real estate agents in these training sessions. The responsibilities of the three players in the real estate market (real estate agents, promoters, and buyers) will be explained in the training.
All this information is divided into 10 chapters. At the end of each training class, there is a question and answer session through which you can understand how thorough and well-versed you are with that chapter. You can ask the tutors, your queries on real estate.
You will be given a handbook for a thorough understanding of the subject. You may go through it to be better prepared for the certification exam.
On successful completion of the training, you can access the links to mock tests and attempt them to get a better understanding of the online interface of the real examination.
IBPS
Thirdly, after finishing the online training, a link will be sent to you for applying for the Certification Exam. The application fee is INR 1,500 + GST.
The IBPS (Institute of Banking Personnel Selection) is the agency that conducts these exams.
You will receive an email from them after a successful registration, confirming the fee paid toward the examination. You need to carefully record the registration number and the password given to you.
IBPS will then issue the venue and date of examination via email. After you get the call letter in the mail from IBPS, you need to download the call letter, take a printout of the same, and affix your photograph on the hard copy. Go through the dos and don’ts given in the mail and the call letter so that you are well-prepared to take the exam without any hassles.
The Exam
Since this is an online examination, it is suggested that you leverage the mock tests and get used to the interface so that you can attempt the final examination smoothly.
You get 60 minutes (1 hour) to attempt 50 MCQs (Multiple Choice Questions – only one of the four options is correct) and each question carries 2 marks. The exam is conducted in English and Marathi.
The minimum that you need to score to pass the examination is 40 marks. This means that you need to attempt at least 20 questions correctly out of the 50 questions. If you fail to get these minimum marks, you need to reappear for the exam to get your real estate agent certification with MahaRERA.
A candidate has 3 attempts after one training program to clear the exam. If he fails to clear the exam, he must undertake the training course again from the beginning.
Certification
Once you successfully pass the exam, you get the Certificate of Competency from MahaRERA with a unique certification number.
This certification number should be mentioned for registration/ renewal or continuation of registration of real estate agents with the Authority. You should log in and upload it in the MahaRERA portal to ensure the validity of your realtor license with MahaRERA.
Also read; Prime Information On MahaRera Competency Certificate Official Circular Out
Who should be registered with MahaRERA?
Certification by MahaRERA applies to a real estate agent if one or more of the following conditions are met :
- The land area of the real estate project must be more than 500 sqm.
- The real estate project must have more than 8 dwelling units.
- The real estate project itself is registered under MahaRERA.
Since today is after Jan. 1st, 2024 if you haven’t already registered with MahaRERA as a real estate agent or firm, you must undergo the training and clear the Certification exam to be able to register with MahaRERA (if you are a new broker or brokerage firm) or renew your registration with MahaRERA (if you are an existing registered real estate broker).
Non-compliance with this certification and training mandate will result in taking necessary action against the real estate agent. MahaRERA ensured that only certified real estate brokers will be listed on the property websites.
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