By the time a redevelopment proposal reaches the signature stage, most housing society members are focused on carpet area, corpus, and rent during construction. Those numbers matter, but they sit on top of something more fundamental: whether the developer is actually complying with RERA, and whether the development agreement reflects that compliance in writing. This article sets out what society members should actually check before signing — not the theory of RERA, but the practical items worth confirming.
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Start with registration — but check the right component
Any real estate project where the land exceeds 500 square metres, or where more than eight apartments are being built, must be registered with MahaRERA before the developer markets or sells a single unit. For a redevelopment, this generally applies to the free-sale component — the flats the developer intends to sell on the open market — rather than the units being handed back to existing society members as rehabilitation. Ask the developer for the MahaRERA registration number for the sale component specifically, and verify it independently on the MahaRERA portal rather than taking the number on faith. The registration record will show the promoter’s other projects, any pending complaints, and the disclosed timeline — all worth a look before you commit.
Confirm the escrow account is actually set up
RERA requires a promoter to deposit at least 70% of the amounts collected from buyers of the free-sale flats into a separate, project-specific bank account, to be used only for the land and construction costs of that project. Money can only be withdrawn from this account in proportion to certified construction progress, with sign-off required from an engineer, an architect, and a chartered accountant. For a society, this matters because it’s the mechanism that’s supposed to stop a developer from using your project’s sale proceeds to fund a different, struggling project elsewhere. Ask for the escrow account details and confirm they match what’s filed on the RERA portal — don’t just accept a verbal assurance that funds are handled properly.
Check what the Development Agreement actually says about RERA
A society’s redevelopment terms are governed by the Development Agreement (and, for individual members, the Permanent Alternate Accommodation Agreement), not by RERA itself. RERA doesn’t automatically protect a society unless the agreement is drafted to incorporate its obligations. Before signing, check that the agreement clearly states:
- the MahaRERA registration number (or a firm commitment to register, with a timeline, if registration is pending)
- a construction completion date consistent with what’s disclosed on the RERA portal — discrepancies here are a red flag
- penalty or interest provisions if the developer misses the committed handover date, in line with RERA’s delay-interest provisions
- that rehabilitation flats for existing members meet the carpet area and specification commitments made during negotiation, not just what’s convenient at construction stage
Look at the developer’s track record, not just this project’s paperwork
The MahaRERA portal lists every project a promoter has registered, along with complaint history. A developer with a string of delayed projects or unresolved buyer complaints is a materially different proposition than one with a clean record, even if the specific redevelopment proposal in front of you looks identical on paper. This is worth checking before your society shortlists a developer, not after signing — renegotiating from inside a signed agreement is a much weaker position than walking away from a proposal.
Understand what RERA doesn’t cover
It’s worth being clear-eyed about the limits here. RERA registration is not a guarantee of construction quality, and it does not independently verify land title — those remain separate due-diligence steps your society’s own lawyer and architect should carry out. RERA is best understood as a compliance and transparency floor: it tells you the developer has made certain disclosures and is subject to certain penalties for missing them, not that the project is well-designed or that the land is free of encumbrances. Treat it as one item on a longer checklist, not the whole checklist.
Quarterly updates are a society’s ongoing check, not just a pre-signing one
RERA requires promoters to file quarterly updates on construction milestones, bookings, collections, and escrow withdrawals for the life of the project. Once your society has signed and construction is underway, these filings are a genuinely useful way for a managing committee to independently verify that the project is progressing as represented, rather than relying solely on the developer’s own updates at general body meetings. Building a habit of checking these filings, even briefly, each quarter is a low-effort way to catch a slipping project early.
A practical starting point
None of this requires a legal background to check — it requires knowing what to ask for and where to verify it independently. Before your society signs anything, get the RERA registration number, look it up yourself on the portal, confirm the escrow account details match, and have your agreement reviewed by someone whose job is to catch the gaps between what was promised in a meeting and what’s actually written into the contract. That’s the kind of due diligence we help housing societies with at Mungekar Realty, and we’re happy to walk through a specific proposal if your society is at that stage.
Related reading: What is the RERA Act?, and a step-by-step guide to the redevelopment process.