The state will soon remodel the Maharashtra Housing Regulatory Commission Bill on the lines of the Centre’s new Model Real Estate Act.

The Model Real Estate (Regulation of Development) Act, the draft for which was published by the Ministry of Housing on Friday, paves the way for setting up a real estate regulatory authority that will register developers and vet real estate proposals. The landmark Act provides for several checks and penalties on developers “to regulate, control and promote planned and healthy development” of residential projects.

Maharashtra’s own proposal to set up a regulator has been pending sanction for over a year. The Bill proposes to set up a three-member panel on the lines of TRAI or SEBI, which will rationalise prices of houses for middle-income and low-income groups and fix a percentage of such affordable flats that private developers have to build in their residential projects.

“The Centre has prepared its model act. We might have to rework our bill according to the new central law,” said Sitaram Kunte, principal secretary for the state housing department.

The Centre’s model Act does not allow developers to start a project or even advertise it without registering with the authority. Any builder who violates this provision can face up to three years in jail or be fined a percentage of the project cost.

The Act may, however, leave out redevelopment of hundreds of buildings in the island city of Mumbai from its purview. The proposed Act states that “no registration shall be required, when the area of land proposed to be developed into a colony does not exceed one thousand square metres”.

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