RERA: how to check a project before you book

What RERA is

The Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act, 2016 requires most new projects to be registered with the state’s real estate regulator before they are advertised or sold. Projects on more than 500 square metres of land, or with more than eight apartments, must register; so must the agents who sell them.

Where to check

Each state runs its own RERA website: UP RERA for Noida, Greater Noida and Ghaziabad; Haryana RERA for Gurugram, Faridabad, Sonipat and Sohna; Delhi RERA for New Delhi. Search by the registration number printed on the brochure or by the project’s name.

What to look at on the project page

A registered project publishes details you can hold the builder to:

• The registration number and the completion date the builder committed to
• The sanctioned plans and the land title
• Quarterly progress updates — construction status and money received
• Complaints and orders against the project or the builder
• Areas stated as carpet area, the basis the Act requires a price to be quoted on

The money rules

A builder may not take more than 10 per cent of the cost as an advance before signing a registered agreement for sale. Seventy per cent of the money collected for a project must be kept in a separate account and used only for that project’s land and construction.

If possession is delayed beyond the date in the agreement, the Act gives the buyer the choice of interest for the delay or a refund with interest.

Red flags

• No RERA number on the advertisement
• A request for a large booking amount before an agreement
• A completion date on the brochure that differs from the RERA page
• Progress updates that stopped some quarters ago