How to read a project's RERA page in 15 minutes: registration, updates, encumbrances and the 70% account

Rules and rates as of 12 October 2026.

"RERA-registered" appears on almost every hoarding and brochure. Taken alone it tells you very little. It means the builder filed papers with the state authority. It does not tell you whether the project is on time, whether the land is mortgaged, or whether your money is being spent on your building. The project's page on the state RERA website can answer most of those questions, if you know where to look. This guide takes you through that page in about 15 minutes, using what the Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act, 2016 requires the builder to put there.

Minute 1 to 3: confirm the registration is real and current

Section 3 of the Act bars a promoter from advertising, marketing, booking or selling any unit in a project that needs registration before it is registered. Small projects are exempt: land of 500 square metres or less, or eight apartments or fewer across all phases (states can set lower thresholds). Anything bigger must be registered.

Search the state portal for the registration number printed on the advertisement. Section 11(2) requires every advertisement to show that number and the authority's website address. Check that the promoter's name, project name and address on the portal match the brochure. A missing number, or one that brings up a different project, is the first thing to resolve.

Then note the validity date. Under section 5(3), registration is valid for the completion period the promoter itself declared. Under section 6, the authority can extend it only on the promoter's application, for force majeure (war, flood, drought, fire, cyclone, earthquake or another natural calamity) or in other reasonable circumstances where the promoter is not at fault. The extension cannot exceed one year in aggregate. If the date has already passed, or the page shows an extension, read the reason recorded.

Minute 4 to 7: title, encumbrances and approvals

Section 4(2) lists what the promoter must file to register. The uploaded documents are the most useful part of the page.

• Title and encumbrance declaration. Under section 4(2)(l)(A) and (B), the promoter declares on affidavit that it has legal title to the land and whether the land is free of encumbrances. If it is not, the promoter must give details of the encumbrance. A loan secured on the land is common. What matters is whether it is disclosed and who the lender is.
• Approvals and commencement certificate. Section 4(2)(c) requires copies of approvals and the commencement certificate. Section 11(1)(d) requires a quarterly-updated list of approvals taken and approvals still pending.
• Sanctioned plan and carpet area. Section 4(2)(d) and (h) cover the sanctioned layout and the number, type and carpet area of the apartments. Check your flat's carpet area against what the sales team quoted you.
• Past five years. Section 4(2)(b) requires details of projects the promoter launched in the past five years. These include their status, any delays, pending cases and pending payments.

Minute 8 to 11: the quarterly updates

Section 11(1) requires the promoter to keep the page current. Every quarter it must update the list of apartments or plots booked, the garages booked, the approvals taken and pending, and the status of the project. Look at the dates on the last few updates. An update that is several quarters old is a warning sign in itself. Compare reported progress with what you see on site and with the completion date. If the page says 20% done with a year left before the declared completion date, ask how the builder plans to close that gap.

Booking numbers show how much of the project has sold. If few units have sold, more of the construction money has to come from somewhere other than buyers.

Minute 12 to 14: the 70% account

This is the clause that turns "registered" into something you can check. Section 4(2)(l)(D) requires the promoter to deposit 70% of the amounts realised from allottees in a separate account with a scheduled bank. That money can be used only for land and construction costs of that project. Withdrawals must be "in proportion to the percentage of completion of the project". Each withdrawal must be certified by an engineer, an architect and a chartered accountant in practice. The promoter's accounts must also be audited by a CA within six months of the end of each financial year. The audit must verify that the money collected was used for the project and that withdrawals matched progress.

States add their own detail. In Maharashtra, for instance, MahaRERA directions effective 1 July 2024 reportedly require three designated accounts at one bank: a collection account that receives all buyer payments, a separate account that gets 70% of them and a transaction account for the other 30%. We have not read the MahaRERA order itself, because the portal blocks automated readers. Check the current circular on your state's portal.

Worked example

Say a project has collected ₹40 crore from buyers so far.

• Must go into the separate account: 70% × ₹40 crore = ₹28 crore.
• Can be held outside it: ₹40 crore − ₹28 crore = ₹12 crore.
• Suppose the engineer and architect certify the project as 30% complete. On a plain proportional reading, total withdrawals so far should be around 30% × ₹28 crore = ₹8.4 crore. That leaves roughly ₹28 crore − ₹8.4 crore = ₹19.6 crore in the account.
• At 60% certified completion, the same arithmetic gives withdrawals of about ₹16.8 crore and a balance of about ₹11.2 crore.

So if the page shows 30% progress but certificates for, say, ₹20 crore of withdrawals, the numbers do not match and you should ask why. States set the exact form of the withdrawal certificate, and some calculate it on cost incurred against total estimated cost rather than on this simple ratio. Treat the arithmetic as a reasonableness check, not the legal formula. A withdrawal certificate should at least identify the project and the separate account, state the certified percentage of completion and the amount being withdrawn, and carry the names and signatures of all three professionals: engineer, architect and CA in practice. One signature where the Act requires three is a gap worth raising.

Minute 15: complaints and orders

Under section 31, any aggrieved person can complain to the authority or the adjudicating officer about a promoter's violation of the Act or the rules. Many state portals show complaints and orders against a registered project. Where yours does not, search the authority's orders by the project name or registration number. One complaint is not proof of a bad project. A string of delay or refund orders against the same promoter is a pattern. Section 7 lets the authority revoke a registration for defaults or unfair practices. On revocation the promoter is listed as a defaulter on the website and the project account can be frozen.

What each field tells you

Field on the page	What it proves	Red flag
Registration number and validity date (s.3, s.5(3))	The project is registered and has a declared completion period	Number missing from the ad, or validity already expired
Extension history (s.6)	Why and for how long completion was pushed out	Extensions near the one-year aggregate cap
Title and encumbrance affidavit (s.4(2)(l)(A), (B))	What the promoter has declared about ownership and charges on the land	Charges described vaguely, or a declaration that differs from your lawyer's search
Approvals and pending list (s.4(2)(c), s.11(1)(d))	Which permissions exist and which are awaited	Key approvals still pending late in construction
Quarterly status and bookings (s.11(1)(b), (e))	Reported progress and sales	Stale updates; progress far behind the timeline
Separate account and withdrawal certificates (s.4(2)(l)(D))	Buyer money is ring-fenced and released against progress	Withdrawals out of line with certified completion; missing signatories
Past projects (s.4(2)(b))	The promoter's five-year track record	Earlier projects delayed or with pending cases

None of this replaces a title search by a lawyer or a CA reading the certificates. It does tell you what to ask them, and what to ask the builder before you sign anything. Remember that section 13(1) also bars the promoter from taking more than 10% of the apartment's cost before a written agreement for sale.