Authorities & RERA
RERA vs Non-RERA Projects
One of these has a regulator you can complain to. The other has a sale agreement and your word against theirs.
The short answer
A RERA-registered project must hold 70% of your money in escrow, disclose its carpet area and approvals, and pay you interest if possession is late. A non-RERA project has none of these obligations. Your only recourse is a civil suit, and that can take years.
What actually changes
Registration itself is a threshold test, not a quality mark. Under Section 3 of the Act, a promoter must register any project where the land exceeds 500 square metres or the units exceed eight, before advertising or accepting a single rupee of booking money.
Once registered, the promoter takes on a fixed set of legal obligations. A non-RERA project has none of them, not because the builder is dishonest, but because the law simply does not reach it.
The escrow account
A RERA promoter must deposit 70% of the money collected from buyers into a project-specific escrow account. Withdrawals are released only against construction actually completed, certified by an engineer, an architect, and a chartered accountant together.
Stalled projects happen when money collected for Tower A gets spent on land for Tower C. The escrow rule exists specifically to stop that. A non-RERA project has no such wall between your payment and whatever the promoter decides to do with it.
What must be disclosed
A registered project must publish its carpet area under the Section 2(k) definition, its layout and government approvals, and the promoter's track record on past projects, all on the public RERA portal. A non-RERA seller can quote built-up area, super built-up area, or a number invented for the brochure, and there is no regulator checking any of it.
When possession is late
Section 18 entitles a RERA buyer to interest for every month of delay past the promised date, at the same rate the promoter would charge a buyer for a late payment. You can also walk away entirely and claim a full refund with interest.
A non-RERA buyer has no such statutory right. Whatever the sale agreement says is what you get, and enforcing it means a civil suit rather than a RERA complaint. Civil suits in India commonly run for years, not months.
| RERA project | Non-RERA project | |
|---|---|---|
| Escrow account | Mandatory, 70% | None required |
| Carpet area disclosure | Legally defined | Whatever is quoted |
| Delay compensation | Statutory interest | Only if the agreement says so |
| Regulator complaint | Yes, RERA authority | Civil court only |
| Public project filings | Yes, on the portal | None |
When non-RERA is legal
Some projects are legitimately outside RERA, and being outside it is not automatically a red flag:
- Small developments. Land under 500 sq.m. and eight units or fewer, in all phases combined.
- Already completed. Projects that held a completion certificate before the Act commenced on 1 May 2017.
- Renovation without new sale. Repair or redevelopment work that involves no fresh booking or marketing.
Legal is not the same as risk-free. If you are buying into one of these, get the same protections written directly into your sale agreement: a carpet area figure, a possession date, and a penalty clause for delay. RERA did not invent these ideas. It just made them mandatory instead of optional.
Frequently asked questions
Is a non-RERA project automatically a scam?
No. Small developments below the threshold and already-completed projects are legitimately exempt. The absence of a RERA number only becomes a red flag when the project is clearly large enough to require one and still has none.
Can I still sue a non-RERA builder for delay?
Yes, through a civil suit for breach of contract, or a consumer complaint if the amount qualifies. Both routes are slower than a RERA complaint and depend entirely on what your sale agreement actually says.
Does RERA cover resale flats?
No. RERA governs a promoter's sale of new units in a registered project. A resale between two individuals sits outside it, and your protection there comes from the sale deed and title verification instead.
How do I check if a project should be registered but is not?
Check the land area and unit count against the 500 sq.m. or eight-unit threshold. If the project clearly exceeds either and still has no RERA number on its marketing material, that is a genuine warning sign, not a technicality.
Do non-RERA projects have to disclose carpet area at all?
Not under any legal definition. A non-RERA seller can use whatever area figure suits the brochure. Always ask for a physical measurement before you sign anything.