RERA for developers: registration, the designated account and quarterly updates
Most developers approach real estate regulation as a registration to be obtained before launch. The registration is the easy part. What follows is a continuing obligation to report, to account separately, and to build what you advertised — enforced with penalties that attach to the project.
2 min readOadbox
Registration thresholds and what they cover
Projects above a defined land area or number of units require registration before any marketing, advertising or booking. Phasing a development means each phase is treated as its own project with its own registration and its own completion date.
Agents selling registered projects require their own registration. Developers are routinely surprised to find they carry responsibility for engaging an unregistered agent.
The designated account changes how you run cash
A defined proportion of the amounts realised from allottees must be kept in a separate account and used only for construction and land cost of that project. Withdrawals are tied to certified stage completion.
This ends the traditional practice of moving collections between projects, and it is the provision that most changes financial planning. It also means project-level accounting is no longer optional bookkeeping hygiene — it is a statutory requirement with a certification trail.
- Separate bank account per registered project.
- Withdrawals supported by architect, engineer and chartered accountant certification.
- Project-level books that can be certified without reconstruction.
- Collections mapped to units, so realisations are computed rather than estimated.
Quarterly updates are public and permanent
Registered projects must publish periodic updates covering construction progress, approvals, inventory sold and unsold. These are public, they are dated, and they are compared against what you said last quarter.
Treating them as a filing chore produces inconsistencies that a buyer's lawyer will find. Treating them as a status report generated from the same data your sales and projects teams use produces consistency for free.
The promise is enforceable
Advertised amenities, specifications, carpet area and the declared completion date are commitments. Deviations require consent, and delays carry interest for the allottee.
The operational consequence is that your marketing material, your agreement and your project plan need to agree with one another — which sounds obvious and is, in practice, the most common source of complaints.
Real estate regulation is administered by state authorities with their own rules, thresholds and portals. Confirm the position with the authority for each state you build in.
Written by the Oadbox team. Something here not match how it works in your business? We would genuinely like to hear it — connect@oadbox.com.