MahaRERA: How to Verify a Project Before Booking

Registration is not a quality certification and it is not a guarantee of delivery. What it does is impose disclosure and financial discipline.

A registered project must publish its approvals, sanctioned plans and completion timeline. A defined share of the money collected from buyers must be held in a dedicated account and drawn against construction progress rather than diverted to other projects. And the authority provides a complaints mechanism through which buyers can seek compensation for delay.

The practical effect for a buyer is that the promises made in marketing become the promises on record.

Every registered project has a registration number, which the developer is required to display. Take that number to the MahaRERA portal and look it up directly — do not rely on a number printed in a brochure without checking that it resolves to the project you are being sold.

On the portal, confirm that the project name and promoter match, that the registration is current rather than lapsed, and that the declared completion date is what you have been told. Check the quarterly progress updates, which registered promoters are required to file: a project that has stopped filing them is telling you something.

Also look at whether complaints have been filed against the promoter.

Registration does not replace the rest of the diligence. Confirm the commencement certificate exists, which is the local authority's permission for construction to begin at all.

For a completed building, confirm the occupancy certificate has been issued — taking possession without one leaves you exposed on utility connections, resale and regularisation.

Finally, read the builder-buyer agreement for the possession date and the delay clause before paying a booking amount. The delay clause is where the practical value of your position in a delayed project is actually determined.