Around 74 per cent home buyers in India are unaware of the online process to check a realty project’s compliance status under the Real Estate Regulatory Act, a Magicbricks report said here on Monday.

“Seventy four per cent of respondents do not know that it is mandatory to check if the project is registered with the state Real Estate Regulatory Authority (RERA) and how to go about checking it on the RERA website,” said the Magicbricks Consumer Choice Poll.

“For a law which is aimed at protecting consumer interest and promote fair play in real estate transactions, this is a poor number,” the report said.

“States where the governments have been proactive and got the website and the machinery going have also seen a large number of consumers using it to check the legality of their project. However, since a large number of states are yet to get their act together, consumer awareness too is low,” said E. Jayashree Kurup, Head, Editorial and Advice, Magicbricks.

According to the report, Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh were the first states to set up the RERA authority and concerned websites on May 1, 2017, when the law was completely enacted.

“Maharashtra’s real estate developers are registering their projects with RERA authority websites and mentioning the registration number in their advertisements. Where it is not followed, the RERA regulators have been penalising them and publishing the same,” it said.

On the other hand, in Gurugram, more than 150 projects are registered but due to unavailability of an operational website to verify the projects’ compliance claims, consumers cannot check approvals or completion status, as per the report.

“However, the authorities are now set up and consumers can either mail or physically visit the offices in Gurugram and Panchkula and get their problems and doubts cleared,” it added.