The seminar was organised to discuss the burning topic of the implementation of RERA and the concept of professional home inspection services around RERA.

Speaking on the occasion, Nandu Belani, president of CREDAI, said, “The advent of the path-breaking Real Estate Regulation & Development Act, 2016 (RERA) gave a big boost to the real estate market. It will help both the developers and homebuyers in the process.”

Girja Choudhary, CFO of Emami Infrastructure gave a detailed presentation on RERA, the concept, its key legal provisions and explained how RERA will affect all key stakeholders (developers and home buyers).

“In the light of RERA, the home inspection services will not only boost the morale of consumers but will also provide the real estate developers peace of mind by assuring quality control over work done by contractors / workers,” said leading city-based developer, Dileep Singh Mehta of  Multicon Group. “I am happy to see the seeds of the home inspection idea that I had visualised 20 years back now seeing the light of the day at the right time for the real estate industry,” Mehta said.

Debjani Mukherjee ,Senior Vice President, Sales& Marketing, Bengal NRI Complex Ltd. agreed to this and mentioned that they have already engaged MACJ- ABCHI to conduct home inspection of 250 of their apartments of the premium Urbana Residential Project before handover to the customers.

MACJ, India had in 2016 collaborated with US company A Buyer's Choice Home Inspections (ABCHI) to pioneer professional home inspection services in India for the first time.

A Buyer's Choice Home Inspections (ABCHI) - started in the mid-2000s by Bill Redfern - is an industry leader in the home inspection franchise in USA & Canada and presently has 200 franchises spread across 19 countries, and is on a path to becoming the world’s largest home inspection company. 

MACJ, India has been co-promoted by Mahendra Sureka and Arvind Kumar Bhotica, along with investor industrialists, Ravindra Chamaria of Infinity Group and Kamal Prakash of Jiwanram Sheoduttrai Group.

The professional home inspection services had been launched by MACJ–ABCHI in India in the light of RERA looking at the needs of the real estate industry - both home buyers and developers. Home inspection is a $5-billion industry in America and promises to develop into an even bigger market in India as the industry develops and matures over the next few years. Already 7-8 companies have started offering home inspection services at various locations across the country.

Bill Redfern, founder and CEO of internationally recognised A Buyer’s Choice Home Inspections, said that post the signing of his agreement with MACJ, India in 2016, he was happy with the development of the business in India. “Our company has agreed to invest in the equity of the Indian entity of MACJ- ABCHI combined,” Redfern said.

“We’ve recognised a growing need for professionally certified home inspections across the country through ongoing analysis in local real estate markets. MACJ is the perfect team to lead the efforts to fill this unmet need. The momentum of the brand is remarkable and we are thrilled to be bringing ABCHI’s high-quality services and franchise opportunities to India in partnership with MACJ, India,” he said.

Mahendra Sureka (Director-CEO, MACJ India) said, “The implementation of RERA will further boost the development of the home inspection services industry and I am confident that home inspection services in India will develop  into a multi-billion US dollar industry over the next decade, helping both the developers and homebuyers in the process.”

MACJ-ABCHI has started its operations in Kolkata, Mumbai and Pune, and is in the process of opening offices in Chennai and Delhi through the franchise model route. 

The franchise model will enable them to expand faster at a lower investment and enable them to provide quality PAN-India service under the single MACJ – A Buyers Choice Home Inspections brand. On the sidelines of the seminar, Sureka will be announcing the launch of two more franchise partners in two key growth pockets of Kolkata at New Town and Tollygunge.

The New Town franchise has been taken by Utsav Agarwal, an enterprising BBA student striving to be an entrepreneur, supported by his father G S Agarwal, the CFO of Magma Housing Finance.

The Tollygunge franchise has been taken by Abhijit Naha along with his wife Ria, Abhijit being an MBA with 10 years of business experience in petroleum and forex business.

Both the franchise partners agree that professional home inspections services are the need of the hour.

“The demand is unlimited and we hope to provide quality and assured services with complete transparency that will fulfill the need of all stake holders, i.e., developers, homebuyers, real estate agents, interior designers, bankers, insurers and the government. It will fill the void of the real estate industry as well as open new avenues of skilling and providing employment opportunities in India,” they said.