RERA Registration

The Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act, 2016 (RERA) is the single most important regulatory reform Indian real estate has seen since independence. It mandates that every developer of a real-estate project above the prescribed size (typically projects with >500 sqm of land area or >8 apartments, with State variations) must register the project with the State Real Estate Regulatory Authority — MahaRERA, K-RERA, TG-RERA, UP-RERA, Haryana RERA, Delhi RERA, Tamil Nadu RERA and so on — before any advertisement, marketing or sale, and that every real-estate agent / property broker dealing in registered projects must hold a valid agent registration. The Act has reshaped the industry's working capital discipline, marketing practice, project-completion accountability, and consumer-grievance redress.

The compliance backbone is built on a few core pillars. Project registration is mandatory before any advertisement / sale, with project details, approvals, plans, timelines, escrow account and developer track record published on the State RERA portal in a public-facing manner. The 70% project-bank-account rule requires that 70% of the amount realised from allottees of the project must be deposited in a separate scheduled-bank account dedicated to that project, and withdrawals are permitted only in proportion to the percentage of completion certified by an architect, engineer and CA. Quarterly progress reports must be uploaded to the RERA portal showing physical progress, financial progress, plan modifications, sale / inventory updates. The five-year structural-defect liability places a statutory obligation on the developer to rectify any structural defect, defect in workmanship, quality or services notified by the allottee within five years from possession, free of cost. Agent registration is mandatory for any person facilitating a transaction in a registered project — without a valid agent registration, the broker cannot legally transact, and the developer is debarred from paying brokerage to an unregistered agent.

By 2026, the RERA framework has matured significantly. State authorities have moved to fully online registration, complaint redress through online conciliation and adjudicating-officer routes, public dashboards of registered projects and agents, and inter-State recognition pilots. Each State, however, retains its own portal, fee structure, registration form, quarterly-report template and adjudication framework — the law is central, the operation is firmly State-specific. We file project and agent registrations cleanly with the appropriate State RERA, build the 70% account and quarterly-report discipline, draft RERA-compliant agreements for sale, and represent developers and allottees in adjudicating-officer / appellate-tribunal proceedings where disputes arise.

The Two Registrations — Project and Agent

• Project Registration:: Mandatory before any advertisement / marketing / sale of any apartment, plot or building in a project that requires registration. The State RERA portal application includes project name, location, land details, layout / building plan with municipal approvals, carpet-area schedule, common-area schedule, project bank-account, RERA registration fee, declaration of pending litigations, financials, developer track record (5-year history), and architect / engineer / CA certifications. Once registered, the project gets a unique RERA Registration Number that must appear in every advertisement and document.

• Agent Registration:: Mandatory for every property broker / real-estate agent dealing in any RERA-registered project. State portals issue an agent registration number with prescribed fee. Without the number, brokerage cannot legally be paid to the agent and the agent cannot facilitate any transaction in a registered project.

The 70% Project-Bank-Account Rule and Withdrawals

Section 4(2)(l)(D) of RERA requires that 70% of the amount realised from allottees be deposited in a separate scheduled-bank account dedicated to the project, used only to cover the cost of construction and the land cost. Withdrawal is permitted only in proportion to the percentage of completion certified jointly by the project's architect (physical progress), engineer (cost-incurred verification), and Chartered Accountant (financial cross-verification). The remaining 30% is freely available for the developer's working capital, marketing and overhead. The discipline is enforced through the bank, the certifications, and on-portal disclosure — and breaches attract heavy penalty (up to 5% of estimated project cost) and project-deregistration risk.

Quarterly Progress Reports and Five-Year Defect Liability

Quarterly Progress Reports (QPRs) on the RERA portal must show physical and financial progress, plan modifications, sale and inventory updates, photographs and certifications. Most States have fixed templates and quarterly cut-offs (e.g., 7 / 15 days post quarter-end). Non-filing attracts penalty and is the most common ground for adjudicating-officer notices. Five-year structural-defect liability under Section 14(3) places a strict obligation on the developer to rectify defects in structure, workmanship, quality or services notified by allottees within five years from possession — at no cost to the allottee, with adjudication routes if the developer does not act.

Common Reasons Developers Get Stuck Despite Holding RERA

Project advertised before registration came through (penalty of up to 10% of estimated project cost); 70% account opened but withdrawals not in proportion to certified completion; QPRs missed for two quarters running; agent paid brokerage without verifying agent's RERA number; agreement-for-sale not in RERA-prescribed model; possession date overshot without extension application; structural-defect notices ignored. Each is a routine adjudication notice and a routine ₹ 5-50 lakh exposure. Setting up the discipline at the outset is what keeps the project on schedule and out of dispute.