Authorities & RERA
What is a RERA Registration Number?
The single most useful string of characters in Indian real estate. If it isn't on the hoarding, that is not an oversight.
The short answer
Every RERA-registered project has a unique registration number — and by law it must appear on every advertisement and every prospectus.
No number on the hoarding, the brochure, the website or the newspaper ad = the project is not registered.
Which means: no escrow, no disclosures, no enforceable possession date, and no protection at all.
What the number is
When a promoter registers a project, the state Authority issues a unique registration number.
It is the key to the project's entire public file: the approvals, the declared possession date, the carpet area schedule, the land title, the promoter's other projects, and the quarterly progress reports.
Formats vary by state — P51700012345 in Maharashtra, PRM/KA/RERA/... in Karnataka, and so on. What matters is not the format but that it exists and that it checks out.
Where it MUST appear
The promoter shall prominently display the website address of the Authority and the registration number obtained for the project, on all advertisements and prospectuses.
Which means every one of these:
• The hoarding by the road
• The newspaper advertisement
• The brochure
• The project website
• The Instagram ad
• The WhatsApp forward
• The email from the broker
Look for it. Every time. Its absence is not an oversight — it is a disclosure.
How to verify it — and always verify it
- Go to the state RERA portal. Search for it by name — MahaRERA, K-RERA, TS-RERA, TNRERA, UP RERA, HARERA. Do not follow a link the builder sends you.
- Search by the registration number, or by the project name, or by the promoter's name.
- Check it actually matches — the project name, the promoter, the location.
- Read the filing. See below.
A registration number printed on a brochure is a string of characters printed by the person selling you something.
Two minutes on the state portal turns it into a fact.
And occasionally the number is real but belongs to a different phase of the project — one that is registered, while the tower you are being sold is not. That is a distinction the sales office is unlikely to volunteer.
Check that the number covers the tower and the phase you are buying in.
What the filing actually tells you — and it is a lot
| What you'll find | Why it matters |
|---|---|
| The declared possession date | Not the one the sales team says. This is the date Section 18 runs from. |
| Quarterly progress reports | The single most useful thing on the portal. A project that has stopped filing has usually stopped building — months before it shows on site. |
| The carpet area schedule | Compare with the brochure. The gap is your loading factor. |
| The approvals | Commencement certificate, layout approval, land conversion, environmental clearance. |
| The land title documents | Who owns the land the project sits on? |
| The promoter's OTHER projects | Search by promoter name, not project name. You will see every project they have registered — including the delayed ones they aren't mentioning. |
| Complaints filed | Against this project, and against this promoter. |
| The sanctioned plan | Is another tower going up in your 'unobstructed view'? |
Everyone searches for the project they are being shown.
Search for the promoter instead. You will see every project they have registered — including the ones from four years ago that were supposed to be delivered by now.
A developer who has delivered three projects on schedule is telling you something a brochure never can. So is one with four delayed projects and a fifth now being launched to you.
Ten minutes. Free. And almost nobody does it.
If there isn't a number
No RERA number means the project is not registered.
Which means:
• No 70% escrow. Your money goes into the builder's general funds.
• No mandatory disclosures.
• No enforceable possession date.
• No Section 18 remedy.
• No quarterly progress filings.
• And the builder is breaking the law before you have signed anything.
You will be offered a discount. It is called a pre-launch price, and it is real — 10 to 20%.
It is not compensation for what you are giving up. Nothing is. Wait a few months for registration, and you get most of the discount and all of the protection.
The Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act, 2016 is a central law. But it is administered by a separate authority in each state, each with its own portal, its own rules, its own forms, and its own fee schedule.
Which means: the principles below apply everywhere. The procedure does not.
Always check YOUR state's RERA portal for the current rules, forms and fees. Search for it by name — MahaRERA, K-RERA, TS-RERA, TNRERA, UP RERA, HARERA — rather than following a link a builder or a broker sends you.
Frequently asked questions
Where should the RERA number appear?
On every advertisement and prospectus — Section 11(2). The hoarding, the newspaper ad, the brochure, the website, the Instagram post, the broker's email. Its absence is not an oversight; it is a disclosure.
How do I verify a RERA registration number?
Go to your state's RERA portal — search for it by name rather than following a link the builder sends you — and search by the number, the project name or the promoter's name. Check it actually matches the project, the promoter and the location. And check it covers the tower and phase you are buying in: sometimes the number is real but belongs to a different phase.
What can I find in a project's RERA filing?
The declared possession date (not the one the sales team says). The quarterly progress reports — the most useful thing on the portal. The carpet area schedule. The approvals. The land title. Complaints filed. And, if you search by PROMOTER rather than project, every other project that builder has registered, including the delayed ones they aren't mentioning.
What does it mean if a project has no RERA number?
It is not registered. Which means no 70% escrow, no mandatory disclosures, no enforceable possession date, no Section 18 remedy, no progress filings — and a builder who is breaking the law before you have signed anything. You will be offered a 'pre-launch price'. It is not compensation for what you are giving up.
Should I search RERA by project or by builder?
By BUILDER. Everyone searches for the project they are being shown. Searching by promoter name shows you every project they have registered — including the ones from four years ago that were supposed to be delivered by now. A developer who delivered three projects on schedule is telling you something a brochure never can.