The draft Model Real Estate Act, while a good idea in principle, has missed the mark on many important practical points and needs work before becoming law, argues bank in-house lawyer Sapan Gupta.

The debacle of economies around the world triggered by irresponsible, uncontrolled investment in the global real-estate market has made India aware of its need to regulate the sector, despite coming out of the crisis relatively unscathed.

The Model Real Estate Act by the Ministry of Housing & Urban Poverty Alleviation (MHUPA) is a step in the right direction. But as it stands today, the act overlooks some practical hurdles in the way of addressing several of its objectives to protect individuals from defaults.