Gurugram, Jan 10 : Taking note of advertisements of unregistered real estate projects in print and social media, the Haryana Real Estate Regulatory Authority (HARERA), Gurugram, has cautioned property buyers and requested them to not pay attention to such misleading advertisements and never buy/book properties in such projects. The authority is closely scanning every such advertisement on social media and print aimed to fleece money from prospective property buyers. It said that the sale or purchase of properties in unregistered real estate projects is not allowed under the RERA Act of 2016, whose main objective is to protect the interest of the buyers/allottees. "If any person is facilitating sale purchase in unregistered projects through advertisement or by any other means that is a violation of the Act," said the Authority. The Authority has taken serious note of the advertisements surfacing on social media platforms such as Facebook, YouTube, etc. The Authority said that promoters should discourage advertising their projects before RERA registration as it is an offense and punishable under the law. "Therefore, they should refrain from advertising before registering the project failing which, legal action shall be taken against them," said the Authority in a statement. It is worth noting that Section 3 of the Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act, 2016 advertisement of unregistered real estate projects in any capacity lays down stringent punishment for such advertisements. Similarly, Section 9 of the RERA Act, says a person has to register with the RERA before facilitating a sale purchase into registered projects. The Authority has noted many unregistered agents are using social media as a tool to advertise unregistered real estate projects in violation of the RERA Act 2016, which is punishable. "People should not invest in any unregistered real estate project as they may be cheated through false promises. The real estate promoters and agents should work, act, and offer sale purchases by the RERA Act only," said Arun Kumar, Chairman of RERA Gurugram. /IANS