The central government has introduced the Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Bill, 2013, which sets up a regulatory authority to protect consumers as well as promote the real estate sector. This article compares various provisions of the bill with a 2011 draft as well as a bill introduced in the Maharashtra legislature in 2012. It also provides a brief overview of the regulatory mechanisms in different countries for governing the real estate industry. It fi nds that the bill has serious defi ciencies and will do little to help either customers or builders. It will only add one more layer of bureaucracy to an already tedious real estate development process.