Bhubaneswar: A leading organisation of realtors on Wednesday slammed the housing and urban development department for levying arbitrary charges for power of attorney to undertake joint venture projects.

Odisha chapter of the Confederation of Real Estate Development Authority of India (Credai) said that the hefty charge had adversely affected their business.

"Other states have provisions for a separate category for development agreement-cum-general power of attorney and the charges are very nominal," said Credai chairman D.S. Tripathy.

Development agreement or a power of attorney is a contractual obligation that is subject to cancellation in case of non-compliance of terms and conditions or failure to take up projects for any reason.

He said the registration authority here was charging for both obtaining and cancelling the power of attorney at 7 per cent of the market value of land. In other states, the fee is much lower.

"These unreasonable charges have increased the prices of housing units. This is affecting home buyers," Tripathy said.

Credai feels the exorbitant fee was making them less competitive. "The state government is denying us a level-playing ground to compete with leading developers from neighbouring states," said a Credai member.

A realtor said investment in housing sector had hit an all-time low, as buyers were investing in other states because of better offers.

"The state government is committed to promote affordable housing, ease of doing business and start ups, but there is an urgent need to have nominal fees to get power of attorney," said Credai president B.K. Das.

He said the action of the state government would facilitate entrepreneurs to fulfil the dreams of millions of affordable home seekers.

"Such reformative measures will also enable the government to earn three to four times more revenue at the time of registration as property values become higher by five to six times after development," said Das.

Gothapatna resident Jayanti Rath, who has recently bought a house, said the government is only focusing on affordable housing sector and the urban poor when it comes to real estate.

"I bought my flat for almost Rs 45 lakh, which is much higher for my preferred locality. When I asked my developer, he said that certain rules of the state had led to this situation and they were helpless," said Rath, a retired government employee.

While Credai's fights for a lower charge, Real Estate Developers Association (Reda) of Odisha president Kantilal Patel on Wednesday announced that their property expo - Home and Décor 2018 - would be held at Janata Maidan from February 2 to February 12. The India International Mega Trade Fair will also be held at the same time.