RERA Registration Check: Step-by-Step Guide

A RERA registration check should answer a narrow question: what does the competent authority currently publish about this named project and promoter? It should not be stretched into a title certificate, market study or guarantee of completion.

Legal baseline

Section 3 of the Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act, 2016 prohibits advertising, marketing, booking, selling or offering for sale in a real estate project or part of it without registration, subject to the Act’s exemptions and the applicable state framework.

The central exemption includes projects where the proposed land area does not exceed 500 square metres or the number of apartments does not exceed eight, inclusive of phases. The proviso allows the appropriate government to reduce that threshold. Renovation, repair or redevelopment without marketing, advertising, selling or new allotment is separately addressed. Do not apply the central text without checking the current state rules and project facts.

Step 1: Use the correct authority

Identify the state or union territory where the project is located and use its official RERA authority. For Tamil Nadu, start at rera.tn.gov.in.

Avoid search-engine snippets and third-party directories as final evidence. Save the authority URL and retrieval date.

Step 2: Search more than one way

Search by:

• registration number;
• exact project name and common spelling variants;
• legal promoter entity; and
• location.

A name-only match is not enough. Compare the registration number, legal entity, address, district and project description.

If no result appears, record the search method. Absence can reflect spelling, phase, migration, exemption, another jurisdiction or an actual registration issue; it does not establish which explanation is correct.

Step 3: Capture the registration evidence

Retain what the authority actually provides, which may include a registration certificate, project detail page, declarations, approvals, plans, professional details, extensions or orders.

For each item, capture:

Do not call a document “Form C” unless that is the form actually issued under the applicable state rules and record.

Step 4: Review updates and orders

Section 11 requires promoter updates on the authority website for specified project information. Read the state portal’s actual reporting fields and periods. Check extensions, revocations, complaints or other orders exposed by the authority.

An old update is a follow-up question. Confirm the record and contact the authority or obtain advice before asserting non-compliance, stalled work or financial distress.

Step 5: Verify linked approvals at source

An uploaded planning, environmental, layout or other approval should be checked with its issuing authority when material. Record survey numbers, conditions, validity, approved plans and amendments.

RERA publication does not convert an expired, inapplicable or superseded approval into current parcel permission.

Step 6: Keep parcel due diligence separate

A project record does not replace:

• title and seller/promoter authority review;
• registration or encumbrance search;
• revenue and mutation records;
• cadastral record and physical survey;
• possession and access;
• litigation, acquisition and insolvency searches; or
• planning, environmental and other restrictions applicable to the target parcel.

Use the land due diligence checklist for those workstreams.

Record the result precisely

Prefer outcomes such as:

• official record matched to the named project and legal promoter on the retrieval date;
• phase or entity mismatch requiring clarification;
• official search completed with no matching record under the documented inputs;
• authority document or order requires further review; or
• portal unavailable or evidence incomplete.

What this guide does not prove

It does not decide whether a specific project is required to register, compliant, financially sound, on schedule or safe to buy. It also does not establish land ownership, promoter land bank, competitor strategy or project demand. Those require the applicable state framework and additional evidence.