RERA registration revoked or lapsed: what sections 7 and 8 mean for flat buyers

Rules and rates as of 21 October 2026.

Your project's page on the state RERA portal now says "revoked", or its registration date has quietly passed with no extension. Builders' sales teams may tell you it is a formality. It is not. A revoked or lapsed registration changes who can sell, who controls the project money and, sometimes, who finishes the building.

This explainer walks through sections 5, 7 and 8 of the Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act, 2016 (RERA), and three state orders that show how regulators have used them. Extensions under section 6 and a builder's transfer of a project under section 15 are covered in our separate explainers. This is not legal advice; for a live case, speak to a lawyer.

How a registration lapses

Under section 5, the authority must grant or reject a project's registration within thirty days of the application. If it does neither, the project is deemed registered. The registration is valid only for the completion period the promoter itself declared.

So a registration "lapses" when that declared period ends and no extension has been granted. The building does not vanish, and your agreement does not end. But section 3(1) says "No promoter shall advertise, market, book, sell or offer for sale" a project without a valid registration, so a builder with a lapsed registration has no business taking fresh bookings for unsold flats.

How a registration is revoked: section 7

Section 7(1) lets the authority revoke a registration on a complaint, on its own motion, or on the recommendation of the competent authority (the planning or municipal body). The grounds are:

• the promoter "makes default in doing anything required by or under this Act";
• it breaks the terms of an approval given by the competent authority;
• it is involved in "unfair practice or irregularities", which the Act defines to include false or misleading statements about a project's standard, approvals or services; or
• it "indulges in any fraudulent practices".

Revocation is not instant. Section 7(2) requires "not less than thirty days notice, in writing" to the promoter, stating the grounds, and the authority must consider any cause the promoter shows. Under section 7(3) the authority may instead "permit it to remain in force subject to such further terms and conditions" it imposes in the allottees' interest.

What revocation does

Once it revokes, section 7(4) tells the authority to:

• debar the promoter from accessing the RERA website for that project, list it as a defaulter with its photograph, and inform the authorities of other states;
• "facilitate the remaining development works to be carried out" under section 8;
• direct the bank holding the project account to freeze it, and later take steps, including de-freezing, so the remaining work can be funded; and
• issue any other directions it thinks fit to protect allottees.

Section 8: who finishes the building

Section 8 applies "Upon lapse of the registration or on revocation of the registration". The authority may consult the state government on "carrying out of the remaining development works by competent authority or by the association of allottees", or in any other manner it decides. Two safeguards follow. On revocation, "the association of allottees shall have the first right of refusal" to carry out the remaining work. And no section 8 direction takes effect "until the expiry of the period of appeal". Section 44(2) gives sixty days to appeal to the Appellate Tribunal.

What states have actually done

Telangana: buyers take over. In a common order dated 2 December 2024 on complaints led by Complaint No. 1269 of 2023 (Abhishek Singh v. Jayathri Infrastructures India Pvt. Ltd.), TG RERA dealt with the Jaya Platinum project. The registration had been revoked, with a certificate dated 30 April 2024. After the state government gave permission, the authority allowed the allottees' association to take over under section 8 and finish the work in eight months, with a six-month grace period. It ordered a separate escrow account for the association, with at least 25% of the completion funds deposited before tenders are awarded. Liabilities from before the takeover, including the promoter's loans and dues, stay with the promoter. The order also says allottees "will not be allowed to withdraw from the project".

Uttar Pradesh: the promoter finishes, under supervision. UP RERA's February 2022 order on Spring View Heights in Ghaziabad (registration UPRERAPRJ3863) used section 8 before the registration ran out, after finding that it could not be extended under section 6. The promoter, with the association's consent and a development manager, was allowed to complete the work, with a separate bank account, withdrawals certified by an engineer, architect and chartered accountant, a construction consultant appointed by the authority, and monthly monitoring. Allottees could not withdraw during this rehabilitation.

Haryana: revocation for non-compliance. HARERA Gurugram, in an order dated 14 February 2022, revoked the registration of Krrish World, a plotted colony in Sectors 62 and 65, for failing to meet registration conditions, including deficit fees and licence renewal.

Note the tension. Section 18(1) lets an allottee who "wishes to withdraw from the project" demand a refund with interest if the promoter cannot give possession because of "discontinuance of his business as a developer on account of suspension or revocation of the registration". Yet both the Telangana and UP orders bar withdrawal from the rescue arrangement. How the two fit together in your case is a question for your lawyer.

Worked example: what staying in costs

All figures are illustrative. A 60-flat project is revoked. Fifty-one flats are sold. An engineer estimates ₹9 crore to finish. Each allottee still owes, on average, ₹12 lakh under the agreement.

• Balances due from allottees = 51 × ₹12,00,000 = ₹6,12,00,000
• Shortfall = ₹9,00,00,000 − ₹6,12,00,000 = ₹2,88,00,000
• Extra per allottee = ₹2,88,00,000 ÷ 51 = ₹5,64,706
• A 25% escrow before tenders, as in the Telangana order = 0.25 × ₹9 crore = ₹2,25,00,000

Your flat cost ₹62 lakh and you have paid ₹50 lakh. Staying in means paying your ₹12 lakh balance plus ₹5,64,706, a total outlay of ₹67,64,706. That is ₹5,64,706, or about 9.1%, above the agreed price. How much buyers have left to pay matters most:

Average balance still owed per allottee	Shortfall for the project	Extra per allottee
₹8,00,000	₹4,92,00,000	₹9,64,706
₹12,00,000	₹2,88,00,000	₹5,64,706
₹15,00,000	₹1,35,00,000	₹2,64,706

Formula: extra per allottee = (cost to complete − allottees' total balance) ÷ number of allottees. A project where buyers have already paid almost everything is the hardest to rescue from within. Whether the extra can later be recovered from the old promoter depends on the order and on your claim against it.

What to do when the status changes

1. Read the portal and the order. Note whether the project is lapsed, under a section 7 notice, revoked, or continued under section 7(3). Download the order.
2. Stop paying the builder directly. Ask the authority where instalments should go once the account is frozen or a new escrow is ordered.
3. Join or form the association. Section 8's first right of refusal belongs to the association of allottees, not to individual buyers.
4. Watch the sixty days. Directions do not take effect until the appeal period ends, and a promoter may appeal.
5. Decide on refund versus completion with a lawyer. Check whether an order limits withdrawal before you file a section 18 claim.