RERA Compliance Checklist for Promoters: Registration, the 70% Account, Quarterly Updates and Penalties

The Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act 2016 turned a builder's promises into statutory duties. For a promoter — a developer, a landowner who develops, a co-operative society or anyone who sells units in a project — compliance is not a form you file once; it runs from before the first advertisement to five years after handover.

This checklist follows the Act itself (section numbers in brackets). In Haryana there are two authorities — HRERA Gurugram for Gurugram district and HRERA Panchkula for the rest of the State — and the Haryana Rules 2017 add forms and timelines on top.

1. Before you market anything: register the project [s. 3–4]

• Mandatory unless the land proposed to be developed does not exceed 500 sq m or the number of apartments does not exceed eight, counting all phases [s. 3(2)(a)]. Each phase is a separate project.
• Nothing before registration: no advertisement, prospectus, booking, sale or offer for sale.
• The application includes: the enterprise's details and past five years of projects (with delays and pending cases), sanctioned plans, layout and specifications, the proposed completion date, the allotment letter, agreement for sale and conveyance formats, the number and carpet area of units, garages, and the names of the architect, engineer, contractor and real-estate agents.
• Declaration on affidavit that you have legal title, that the land is free of encumbrances (or disclosing them), and the time you will take to complete — plus the 70% undertaking below.
• The authority must decide within 30 days; a registration not refused within that time is deemed granted. Registration runs to the declared completion date. It can be extended on application in force majeure cases, for up to one year in aggregate [s. 6]; in Haryana the application is made in Form REP-V three months before the registration expires [r. 6].

2. The separate account: 70% of every receipt [s. 4(2)(l)(D)]

Deposit 70% of the amounts realised from allottees in a separate bank account for the project, to be used only for land and construction costs of that project. Withdrawals must be in proportion to the percentage of completion of the project, and before each withdrawal the engineer, the architect and a chartered accountant in practice must have certified it. The account is audited within six months of each financial year end by a CA in practice, who certifies that withdrawals matched completion and funds were used for the project.

This is the clause that most often catches promoters who run several projects from one pool of money.

3. Ongoing disclosure and updates [s. 11]

• Keep the project page on the authority's portal current, with quarterly updates on the number and type of units booked, garages booked, approvals taken and pending, and the status of the project; in Haryana the update is due within 15 days of the end of each quarter [r. 14(1)(d)].
• Display the RERA registration number and website in every advertisement and prospectus.
• Make available to the allottee, at booking, the sanctioned plans, layout plans and specifications, and the stage-wise time schedule of completion, including water, sanitation and electricity [s. 11(3)].

4. Selling: the rules on money and documents [s. 13–14]

• No more than 10% of the cost of the apartment or plot can be taken as advance or application fee before a written, registered agreement for sale.
• The agreement must be in the form prescribed by the State rules, stating the price, dates of payment, the date of possession, and the interest rate on default for both sides.
• No changes to the sanctioned plans or specifications of an individual apartment without the allottee's written consent, and no other alterations or additions to the sanctioned plans of the building or common areas without the written consent of at least two-thirds of the allottees, other than the promoter [s. 14(2)].

5. Handover and after [s. 11, 14, 17, 19]

• Hand over possession with the occupancy/completion certificate; execute the conveyance deed to the allottee, and of the common areas to the association, within the period in the local laws or, failing that, within three months of the occupancy certificate [s. 17(1)].
• Defect liability for five years from possession: structural or workmanship defects must be rectified at no cost within 30 days of being notified; failing that, the allottee is entitled to compensation.
• Enable the formation of the allottees' association within three months of a majority of the allottees having booked [s. 11(4)(e)], and hand over documents, plans and accounts.
• If possession is delayed, the allottee may withdraw with a refund plus interest, or stay and receive interest for every month of delay at the prescribed rate [s. 18]. Haryana rule 15 sets it at SBI's highest MCLR plus 2%; that 2019 amendment was challenged in court, so have the current position confirmed before relying on it.

6. Agents [s. 9–10]

Sell only through registered real-estate agents, and disclose their names in the registration. In Haryana an agent registers in Form REA-I for five years and applies for renewal in Form REA-IV three months before expiry [r. 11].

What non-compliance costs [s. 59–64]

The Act provides penalties, and in some cases imprisonment, for contraventions — among them not registering a project, giving false information, contravening other provisions, and not complying with orders of the authority or the Appellate Tribunal [ss. 59–64]. The amount depends on the default and is decided by the authority, so have the exposure on a specific default assessed rather than estimated.

Registration can also be revoked for wilful default, unfair practices or breach of approval conditions; the authority can then direct the bank to freeze the project account [s. 7(4)(c)] and arrange for the remaining development to be carried out, including by the allottees' association [s. 8].

The promoter's calendar

• Before launch: land title check, approvals, registration filed, agreement formats prepared, separate account opened, agents registered.
• Each quarter: portal update of bookings, approvals and progress within 15 days of the quarter end.
• Before each withdrawal from the separate account: the certification by the engineer, architect and chartered accountant in practice.
• Each year: CA audit of the separate account within six months of year end; renew any agent registrations.
• Three months before the registration expires: apply for an extension (Form REP-V in Haryana) if needed — a lapsed registration is a default, not a formality.
• At handover: OC, conveyance, association formation, defect-liability tracking for five years.

Our RERA services cover registration paperwork, quarterly update support and project accounting for promoters in Haryana.