Property, Real Estate & RERA

RERA Registration for Builders: Which Projects Are Exempt

CA Nikhil Gupta·July 2026· Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act, 2016 RERA COMPLIANCE

Reviewed by CA Nikhil Gupta · Last reviewed 17 July 2026

Not every construction project falls under RERA — the Act draws a specific size line, and projects below it, along with a handful of other defined categories, sit outside mandatory registration entirely.

The core registration threshold

A real estate project generally requires RERA registration if it involves land area exceeding 500 square metres, or the number of apartments proposed to be developed exceeds 8 (counting all phases) — meeting either condition alone is sufficient to trigger the registration requirement; a project doesn't need to breach both thresholds.

What is specifically exempted

Projects where the promoter has received a completion certificate before the relevant RERA notification date in that state.
Renovation, repair, or re-development work that does not involve marketing, advertising, selling, or new allotment of apartments/plots to buyers.
Projects below the 500 sq m / 8-apartment threshold, unless the relevant state's rules have prescribed a lower threshold (states have some rule-making latitude and a few have set more stringent local thresholds).

⚠ State-level rules can vary the exact threshold: While the Act sets the baseline 500 sq m / 8-apartment trigger, individual states can frame rules that are more stringent (a lower threshold) for their jurisdiction — a builder should confirm the specific applicable state RERA rules rather than assume the central Act's baseline figure applies uniformly everywhere in India.

Why registration matters so much for a buyer

A registered project comes with a defined RERA registration number, a specific completion timeline the promoter has committed to and disclosed, mandatory escrow protection for buyer funds (see our related article), and a regulatory forum (the state RERA Authority) to pursue delay/deficiency claims against. An unregistered, below-threshold project doesn't carry these specific statutory protections in the same form — buyers of smaller projects need to rely more heavily on the strength of the builder-buyer agreement itself and general consumer/contract law.

What registration actually requires from the promoter

A registering promoter must disclose project details (land title, encumbrances, approved layout plans, proposed completion timeline), deposit the required percentage of buyer funds into a project-specific escrow account, and file periodic project-progress updates with the RERA Authority — registration is not a one-time formality but an ongoing disclosure and compliance obligation for the life of the project.

Practical due diligence for a buyer

Before booking in any project, checking the project's RERA registration number on the relevant state RERA Authority's website (which typically discloses registration status, promoter details, and project timeline) is a basic, accessible first step — a buyer should be cautious of any project claiming RERA-exempt status without a clear, verifiable basis for that exemption.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does a single independent house/villa construction for personal use need RERA registration? ▼

RERA registration is aimed at projects marketed and sold to multiple buyers (apartments, plotted developments meeting the threshold) — a single house built by an individual for their own residence, not being marketed/sold to third-party buyers, generally does not fall within the registration framework's intent, though the specific facts should be checked against applicable state rules.

Can a builder split a large project into smaller phases specifically to stay under the RERA threshold? ▼

RERA registration thresholds are generally assessed considering all phases of a project together, specifically to prevent this kind of threshold-avoidance through artificial phasing — a builder attempting to structure phases specifically to evade registration risks the phases being treated collectively for threshold purposes.

What happens if a builder sells apartments in a project that should have been RERA-registered but wasn't? ▼

Selling in an unregistered project that should have been registered is itself a violation attracting penalties under RERA, and can separately expose the builder to the full range of consequences (including possible imprisonment for repeat violations) — a buyer discovering this should treat it as a serious red flag about the builder's overall compliance posture, not just a technical registration gap.

Source and review trail

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Primary category: Property, Real Estate & RERA
Official starting point: mohua.gov.in

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